Lebanon blows Gilas bid for 5th

With Christian Standhardinger rushing over to Kuala Lumpur, Gilas Pilipinas proved short practically on all fronts and dropped an 87-106 loss to host Lebanon in the penultimate day of the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut.

Minus their top rebounder and defender, the Filipinos found it hard to match up with the taller and heftier Lebanese and reeled to a second straight loss that relegated Team Phl to a fight for seventh place with Jordan.

Earlier in the day, deposed champion China overpowered Jordan, 86-55.

The Chinese and the Lebanese slug it out for fifth place at the close of the 12day, 16-nation meet today.

Sans Standhardinger and Andray Blatche, and with June Mar Fajardo playing half-healthy, Gilas found no answer to Lebanese super star Fadi El Khatib who erupted for 36 points.

Naturalized player Norvel Pelle collected 23 points and 13 rebounds while gunner Nadin Souaid contributed two triples and a total of 11 markers as they frustrated the Filipinos and their fans that engaged the home crowd in a cheering and jeering battle.

The crippled Phl side proved no match on the playing court, suffering a second straight blowout loss following an 86-118 rout by South Korea in the quarterfinals.

El Khatib was unstoppable, going 10of-19 from the field and 13-of-16 from the stripe while also delivering eight assists and six rebounds in 37 minutes of action.