Smart Gilas surged back from 15 points down through Marcus Douthit’s sustained firepower then leaned on clutch shooting down the stretch to edge Syria’s Al-Jala’a, 85-80, and assure the country of its best finish in 15 years in the FIBA Champions Cup before flag-waving Friday crowd at the Philsports Arena.
The Nationals continued to play with poise and heart so evident in their last two games, turning back the Syrians’ last-ditch rally with pressure-laden offensives and incisive passing to notch the win and a seat in the semifinal round of the 22nd staging of the tournament.
Douthit fired 12 of 26 points in the last quarter in a one-on-one duel with former Los Angeles Laker Samaki Walker as the Nationals went on to post their best finish in the Champions Cup since 1996 when Hapee Toothpaste claimed the feat.
The win further boosted the morale of coach Rajko Toroman’s chargers going into their semifinal match against defending champion Mahram of Iran, which brought in five national players who once played for the Serbian mentor.
The Iranians routed the Al-Ittihad-Saudi side, 102-65, earlier while powerhouse Al-Riyadi Lebanon thumped Duhok of Iraq, 106-80, to clinch the other Final Four berth.
The last semifinal slot is being disputed by Al Rayyan of Qatar and Applied Science University of Jordan at presstime.
“Marcus (Douthit) showed up in the second half, he helped us a lot,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman, who incidentally coached the Iran national team before accepting the Gilas job.
“Mahram is a stronger team than the Iran national team. They’re really tough because they’re not only the defending champions, they’re also taller and bigger than us in almost all positions,” said Toroman.
“But tomorrow (today) we will put pressure on them, we’ll try to attack them, confuse their bench players because those are the only ways to beat them,” he added.
JV Casio, who willed the Nationals to a 76-74 thriller of a win over Jordan Wednesday to clinch the Group A top seed, unloaded 22 points including three triples and took a game-high nine assists.
Smart Gilas played sluggish at the start and trailed by as many as 15 points twice, the last at 37-22 midway in the second period before a Casio triple sparked a run that kept the host team within a single digit deficit at the break, 34-41.
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