Gilas 5 to face Egypt in Dubai caging finals

Marcus Douthit provided the inside muscle, while Mark Baracael teamed up with Chris Tiu and JV Casio in lighting up the scoreboard as Smart Gilas Pilipinas coasted to a 77-66 semis win over Al Wahda Syria in the 22nd Dubai International Basketball Tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The win earned Gilas a Finals date with Al Ettihad-Egypt, which eked out a 97-94 overtime win over Sagesse-Lebanon in the other semis match. The Finals match between Gilas and Al Ettihad-Egypt will be played on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Dubai time (10 p.m. in Manila). The Filipinos' fast-paced offense and suffocating defense had them dictating the tempo against the same Syrian squad that edged them, 91-89, in a Group B elimination round game. Douthit's inside plays as well as Baracael's and Casio’s outside shooting helped Gilas zoom to a 51-25 spread at the turn. But the Filipinos played loose in the third, allowing Syria to cut the deficit to 14, 64-50, at the end of the period. Al Wahda trimmed the lead to 69-58 entering the last two minutes of the final quarter. Tiu, however, bailed Gilas out of trouble when he buried back-to-back 3-pointers for a 75-62 cushion, to the delight of the overflow Filipino crowd at the Al Ahli Club, with one minute and 15 seconds left in the game clock. Tiu's six-point swing sealed the win for Gilas and took the fight out of the Syrians. "We knew that we had the game in the bag, but we needed someone to seal it. Good thing we made our 3-pointers in the crucial moments of the game," said Tiu. "Our game plan was to deprive Syria of its running game and pressure them right from the start. Good thing we dictated the tempo, secured those rebounds, and had excellent ball rotation to always find the open man," said Gilas assistant coach Jude Roque. Douthit paced Gilas' scoring with 18 points. The 6-foot-10 center, who is waiting for the release of his naturalization papers, also grabbed 12 rebounds. Baracael tallied 17 markers while Tiu scored 12 and had six rebounds. Casio also had 12 points and issued seven assists. American import Ricky Clemens led Syria with 16 points while Zaim Hashem and Parik Ali added 14 and 11 markers each. Nick Zachary, Al Wahda's other American import and top scorer in its previous games, was a non-factor this time as Gilas' defense held him down to a mere three points. – JVP, KY, GMANews.TV