source: fibaasia.net
It was more than what the capacity crowd at the PhilSports Arena could have asked for.
For, not only did their favorite team – Smart Gilas – win, but showed tremendous resilience to recover from a disappointing first quarter of an hour to beat Syrian League champions Al Jala’a 85-80 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Smart Gilas, who thus became the first team from outside the Gulf-WABA subzones to enter the semifinals in four years, will now match wits with twice defending champions of Mahram in the semifinals.
Incidentally the last team non-Gulf-WABA team too was a team from Philippines – San Miguel – at the Tehran edition of the Champions Cup in 2007. Incidentally, again, the Filipino outfit had lost to Al Jala’a in the semifinals on that occasion.
Samaki Walker’s 8-point contribution set Jala’a on a 13-0 run early in the second quarter – Micheal Madanly had put them ahead at the end of the first quarter – which kept the crowd silent.
But that 15-point lead – the highest any team had in the game – as well as the dominance proved – as the crowd prayed for – to be momentary.
Smart Gilas pounced back with a 14-6 run over the next five minutes and kept themselves in the reckoning.
Foul trouble
Hereabouts began the real trouble for Jala’a with many of their mainstays heading into foul trouble.
Micheal Madanly committed his fourth with more than six minutes left in the third quarter and Marcelle Yaqqub was ejected after his fifth with about three minutes left.
In between that, Chris Tiu fired in a three-pointer to put Smart Gilas on par for the first time after the jumpball and JP Aguilar’s three-point play gave them their first lead.
Joe Casio’s sizzler from the perimeter furthered the lead and Smart Gilas never trailed thence.
Casio had a 22-point game, seven of them in the third quarter.
Marcus Douthit was as expected of him strong under the basket on both ends of the floor as Smart Gilas took a firm grip on the game. The naturalized Filipino led the game in scoring with 26 points, 22 of them in the second half, and 10 in the third quarter.
Walker had 25 points for Jala’a, but 16 of them in the first half.
Madanly scored 14 points before being rested for foul trouble, and added only 3 on return.
“Our position 4 and 5 were almost non-existent. Marcus (Douthit) or JP (Aguilar) we just let them (Jala’a) have to way too easy,” Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman said of the early deficit.
“But we showed a lot of character to stay in the game.”
The Scores:
Smart Gilas Philippines 85 - Douthit 26, Casio 22, Aguilar 12, Lutz 6, Baracael 6, Tiu 5, Hontiveros 5, Lassiter 2, Taulava 1, Barroca 0
Al Jalaa-Syria - Walker 25, Madanly 17, Miller 13, Deeb 11, Papazian 7, Yaqqub 4, Gorges 2, Ishak 1, Yakoub 0.
Quarters: 20-22, 34-41, 61-57, 85-80
Download our free toolbar here
It was more than what the capacity crowd at the PhilSports Arena could have asked for.
For, not only did their favorite team – Smart Gilas – win, but showed tremendous resilience to recover from a disappointing first quarter of an hour to beat Syrian League champions Al Jala’a 85-80 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Smart Gilas, who thus became the first team from outside the Gulf-WABA subzones to enter the semifinals in four years, will now match wits with twice defending champions of Mahram in the semifinals.
Incidentally the last team non-Gulf-WABA team too was a team from Philippines – San Miguel – at the Tehran edition of the Champions Cup in 2007. Incidentally, again, the Filipino outfit had lost to Al Jala’a in the semifinals on that occasion.
Samaki Walker’s 8-point contribution set Jala’a on a 13-0 run early in the second quarter – Micheal Madanly had put them ahead at the end of the first quarter – which kept the crowd silent.
But that 15-point lead – the highest any team had in the game – as well as the dominance proved – as the crowd prayed for – to be momentary.
Smart Gilas pounced back with a 14-6 run over the next five minutes and kept themselves in the reckoning.
Foul trouble
Hereabouts began the real trouble for Jala’a with many of their mainstays heading into foul trouble.
Micheal Madanly committed his fourth with more than six minutes left in the third quarter and Marcelle Yaqqub was ejected after his fifth with about three minutes left.
In between that, Chris Tiu fired in a three-pointer to put Smart Gilas on par for the first time after the jumpball and JP Aguilar’s three-point play gave them their first lead.
Joe Casio’s sizzler from the perimeter furthered the lead and Smart Gilas never trailed thence.
Casio had a 22-point game, seven of them in the third quarter.
Marcus Douthit was as expected of him strong under the basket on both ends of the floor as Smart Gilas took a firm grip on the game. The naturalized Filipino led the game in scoring with 26 points, 22 of them in the second half, and 10 in the third quarter.
Walker had 25 points for Jala’a, but 16 of them in the first half.
Madanly scored 14 points before being rested for foul trouble, and added only 3 on return.
“Our position 4 and 5 were almost non-existent. Marcus (Douthit) or JP (Aguilar) we just let them (Jala’a) have to way too easy,” Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman said of the early deficit.
“But we showed a lot of character to stay in the game.”
The Scores:
Smart Gilas Philippines 85 - Douthit 26, Casio 22, Aguilar 12, Lutz 6, Baracael 6, Tiu 5, Hontiveros 5, Lassiter 2, Taulava 1, Barroca 0
Al Jalaa-Syria - Walker 25, Madanly 17, Miller 13, Deeb 11, Papazian 7, Yaqqub 4, Gorges 2, Ishak 1, Yakoub 0.
Quarters: 20-22, 34-41, 61-57, 85-80
