Gilas dumped by bigger, stronger Qatar 5 in FIBA Champs Cup

(Updated 11:49 a.m.) The Smart-Gilas national developmental team battled toe-to-toe with Al Rayyan of Qatar for three quarters, but lost steam in the final period against the bigger and healthier host squad, 86-58, in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Doha. A day after blasting a giant named Priest Lauderdale and his Iraq Duhok squad, Al Rayyan bannered by seven-foot center Michael Fey of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins and local standouts Efran Saeed Ali and Yaseen Ismail Musa, used its size to the hilt against their depleted and smaller Filipino rivals. Saeed Ali led the Qataris with 19 points while Andy Barroca finished with 13 points for the national team aspirants, who badly missed the services of JV Casio and was forced to play several hurting players on their lineup. Casio suffered an MCL injury that would require him to rest for four more weeks. The Filipinos, who were champions in this event several times, including the celebrated all-amateur Northern Consolidated squad that won the title in Ipoh, Malaysia, in 1984, placed a fighting fifth last year behind a team anchored on some of the best talents from the collegiate and amateur leagues. With several hurting players and new faces added recently, the team handled by Serbian mentor Rajko Toroman, is still trying to establish team chemistry. In the second half against the Qataris, Smart-Gilas was simply overpowered by its rivals. A Rayyan outscored the national team aspirants, 50-17, setting the tone for the rout. “I think we were woefully short in defense in the first half," said Rayyan coach Carl Nash. “We didn’t pick their screens well. Also, some of the shots that we took were not on. When you make such mistakes against such a team, it is bound to show on the score sheet." “But I'm glad we recovered fast enough and more importantly didn’t allow them a fight back." Toroman said that his squad was able to hold its own in the first half, but poor shooting in the second half had taken its toll on them. “We were alright in the first half. Our shooting began to suffer in the second, and they also came up strong in rebounds," said Toroman. "We just lost the battle, not the war." The national developmental team shot 44% in the first half, but struggled to just 26% in the second half as Al Rayyan's defense started to tighten up as far as the perimeter area. Cory Bradford and Targuy Ngombo added 15 each while Saad Ali contributed 10 for Al Rayyan, which picked up its second straight win to lead Group A. Marc Baracel and Chris Tiu had 11 and 10 points, respectively for Smart-Gilas Pilipinas, which allowed Al Rayyan to score 34 points in the paint. The Smart-Gilas Pilipinas five will next face another formidable foe in Kazakhstan’s Astana Tigers, which earlier made their presence felt when it dwarfed Lauderdale and the rest of Iraq’s Duhok team, 75-68, for the squad's second win in three matches. Former youth standout Anton Ponomarev finished with 23 points and was able to outplay the NBA veteran Lauderdale, one of the few giant imports who was considered but failed to play for two teams in the Philippine Basketball Association. Applied Sciences University of Jordan ripped Al Nasr of United Arab Emirates, 90-74, to barge into the win column of Group B. NBA veteran Olumide Oyedeji, a Nigerian import brought in by Jordan, finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds but it was Zaid Abbaas who triggered the team’s early breakaway. Abbaas led ASU-Jordan with 22 markers. - JVP/Rey Joble, GMANews.TV