Smart Gilas 2.0 Results: Day 2 and 3 of FIBA Asia Cup 2012

Smart Gilas vs Lebanon

Following their defeat against China, Smart Gilas Pilipinas had to face another tough competition in Lebanon in their Group A clash last September 15 in Tokyo, Japan. The first half of this game was very tight with no team breaking away from their opponent. The Philippine team even trailed Lebanon during the halftime break.

El-Khatib, Lebanon's best player, rallied the team to a lead until the third quarter wherein he scored 15 points and and grabbed 6 rebounds during the first two quarters. Their naturalized player Garnett Thompson also contributed in scoring with his own 13 points.

But Smart Gilas Pilipinas turned things around in the second half, specifically during the third quarter as Marcus Douthit took charge. He scored 10 points in the third quarter alone wherein 8 of those are attributed to putbacks. This helped the Gilas Pilipinas 2.0 squad to grab the lead, which now stood at 6, by the end of the third quarter.

The Philippine team experienced a slight scare during the start of the fourth quarter when Lebanon attempted a comeback, scoring 6 points in succession with the Philippine team having no answer. This brought the lead down to 2, 61-59. But the rest of the Philippine squad contributed shots when they mattered most, such as the likes of Gary David, Jared Dillinger, and Gabe Norwood. All in all, it was an evenly spread scoring amongst the Smart Gilas Pilipinas squad to take the win, their first in the 2012 FIBA Asia Cup.

Box Scores courtesy of AKTV:

SMART-Gilas Pilipinas (78) – Douthit 25, David 11, Tenorio 11, Dillinger 10, Norwood 10, De Ocampo 8, Fonacier 3, Chan 0, Thoss 0.

Lebanon (68) – F. El Khatib 24, Thompson 17, Akl 10, Abdelnour 8, C. El-Khatib 4, Sarkis 3, Stephan 2, Rustom 0, Tabet 0.

Quarterscores: 19-20, 38-41, 59-53, 78-68.

Smart Gilas vs Uzbekistan

The win enjoyed by the Smart Gilas Pilipinas team yesterday (Sept 15) helped to boost the team's spirit and routs their opponent, Uzbekistan, for today's schedule of games as the Group A preliminary round competition continues in Tokyo, Japan. Jeff Chan was the highest scorer in this particular game wherein he scored 20 points in total.

The Philippine team limited their opponent to only 5 points during the second quarter and hasn't looked back since. Aside from Jeff Chan's -20 points, Jared Dillinger is the second best offensive player for the Philippine team in this game and was the second player to score in double figures. His PBA teammate Larry Fonacier also joined in on the shooting spree as he opened the second quarter with his own share of three.

The Filipinos rode their momentum until the third quarter with LA Tenorio manning the play and helped control the tone of the game right off the bat. With a huge lead, this also gave coach Chot Reyes the opportunity to give some of its key players some rest and allowing the reserves to play extended minutes.

With 3 games already concluded, Smart Gilas Pilipinas is set to face Macau in their final game to complete the preliminary knockout round for Group A.

Box scores courtesy of AKTV:

SMART-Gilas Pilipinas (85) – Chan 20, Dillinger 10, Douthit 9, Rosser 8, David 7, Fonacier 7, Reyes 7, Villanueva 6, De Ocampo 5, Norwood 4, Tenorio 2, Thoss 0.

Uzbekistan (50) – Denisov 16, Juginisov 12, Kozlov 6, Rahimov 6, Yakhin 6, Nuraliev 2, Tangrikulov 2, Kadirov 0, Nabiev 0, Safarov 0, Timofeev 0.

Quarterscores: 23-16, 39-21, 63-33, 85-50.