Revenge on home soil
It was sweet revenge for Gilas as the Philippine team brought down Lebanon, 107-96, in the sixth FIBA World Cup Asia qualifying window at the Philippine Arena last Friday. The Cedars beat Gilas, 85-81, in the fourth window in Beirut last August despite Jordan Clarkson’s presence.
For the sixth window, Lebanon showed up without star guard Wael Arakji, naturalized player Jonathan Arledge and Ali Haidar but still battled until the final buzzer, outscoring Gilas, 32-25, in the fourth quarter. The Cedars retained six players, led by Amir Saoud and Hauk Gyokchuan, from the lineup that defeated Gilas. Saoud carried the cudgels for Lebanon and erupted for 17 points in the first half. But in the third quarter, Gilas held Saoud scoreless. The 6-2 guard scored 10 in the fourth frame to finish with 27. Saoud tallied 41 in Al Riyadi’s 106-97 win over the Philippines’ Strong Group in the recent Dubai Invitationals.
Seven players were on the Gilas team that lost to Lebanon – Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena, Ray Parks, Dwight Ramos, Scottie Thompson, Jamie Malonzo and Calvin Oftana so vengeance was theirs. Joining the “redeem” cast were June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Mason Amos, Justin Brownlee and Jordan Heading. Missing were Kai Sotto, Japeth Aguilar, Clarkson, Chris Newsome and Carl Tamayo.
In the loss to Lebanon, Gilas shot 6-of-23 triples, committed 21 turnovers and had 18 assists. In the win, coach Chot Reyes turned it around with Gilas registering 17-of-36 triples and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 31:13. There were improvements in different facets. The ball movement was quick, rotation was fluid and three-point shooting was precise with nine players hitting at least one trey. Gilas took 36 three-point and 37 two-point attempts, reflecting the evolution to strike from distance. Amos buried three triples and Brownlee, Parks, Kiefer Ravena, and Heading two each. Whether Reyes deployed a small or big lineup, unselfishness was evident. Defensive chemistry remains a work in progress but Gilas is on the right track. Redemption will continue to be on Gilas’ agenda at the next SEA Games.