SMART-Gilas beats Chinese Taipei, enters FIBA Asia semifinals

The Philippines is one win away from entering the finals of the FIBA Asia Championship for Men in Wuhan, China.

Behind an inspired performance from naturalized center Marcus Douthit, the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team defeated a game Chinese Taipei team, 95-78, to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.

Douthit rattled off 37 big points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, and grabbed 10 rebounds in a dominant showing for the SMART-Gilas big man.

But Douthit hardly did everything alone.

Ranidel De Ocampo provided plenty of support, scoring 18 points on an array of impressive moves, and Marcio Lassiter finished with 13 points and eight rebounds on top of his usual tough defensive effort. Jimmy Alapag and Jayvee Casio both finished with eight points apiece.

Chinese Taipei took an early lead in the game as they outhustled the Filipinos to several offensive rebounds, including a couple off of missed free throws. But SMART-Gilas closed the first half with a 14-3 run to take a three-point lead at the half.

The Philippines would take leads of as high as 19 points in the fourth quarter.

But Chinese Taipei made things interesting when they scored 11 straight points, including three triples, to cut an 18-point SMART-Gilas lead down to just seven with about two minutes to go in the game.

Unfortunately for Chinese Taipei, their top big man Tseng Wen-Ting, who led them with 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting, had already fouled out of the game at that point, and the Filipinos would score the last 10 points in the game to complete the final margin.

Chen Hsin-An scored 14 points and Lin Chih-Chieh had 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists but was held to just 3-of-11 from the field by the staunch SMART-Gilas defense.

In the semifinals, the Philippines will face off against familiar face Jordan, whom SMART-Gilas faced in a tune-up game here in Manila before the FIBA Asia tilt and during the second round of this tourney, both SMART-Gilas wins.

Jordan earlier upset tournament favorites Iran in a tight 88-84 encounter.

SOURCE VIA INTERAKSYON