Breaking the hearts of Filipino fans is getting to become a tradition for the Jordan national basketball team.
In the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship in Tokushima, Japan, a loss to the Jordanians doomed the chances of Chot Reyes’ Philippine team from escaping the opening round of the tournament. In the 2009 edition of the competition in Tianjin, China, Yeng Guiao’s national squad also suffered a bitter quarterfinals defeat at the hands of the same team.
This year in Wuhan, Jordan continued the trend, pummeling SMART-Gilas, 75-61, in their semifinal matchup on Saturday.
As in the past tournaments, the trio of naturalized backcourt dynamo Rasheim Wright, star point guard Sam Daghles, and sharpshooting big man Zaid Abbas did the most damage against the Philippines. Wright, who struggled in the the Philippines’ win over Jordan earlier in the tournament, was brilliant all game long, scoring 24 points. Daghles added 16 points and 4 assists while Abbas had 14 points and four rebounds.
Perhaps just as importantly, Jordan sprung a 2-3 zone that the Philippines couldn’t quite solve all game long.
Marcus Douthit and Jayvee Casio carried the fight for SMART-Gilas with 21 and 16 points, respectively.
The Filipinos started the game oozing with confidence, leading by as much as eight points, 18-10, on two free throws by Marcus Douthit in the first quarter.
But Jordan, which shocked two-time defending champion Iran in the quarterfinals to set a date with the Philippines, managed to get its game going behind Wright, who took over the leadership mantle when Daghles picked up three early fouls in the first period.
With Daghlas out, Jordan became more unpredictable on offense to pull even with the Philippines. Wright continued to terrorize the Philippine defenders, making mincemeat of smaller guards thrown at him. His bucket to end the third period gave Jordan a 49-41 lead.
SMART-Gilas showed some life in the early part of the fourth quarter, energized by Kelly Williams’ rim-rattling follow-up slam as the Filipinos inched closer, 49-46. A Douthit jumper cut the Philippine deficit down to one point..
But still buoyed by their big victory over Iran the previous day, Jordan showed nerves of steel at the height of the Filipinos’ rally, with an Abbas fallaway giving his team second wind.
Jordan also made the Filipinos pay on the defensive end. The Filipinos opted to play a 2-3 zone late in the game, but the Jordanians quickly busted the defense with three quick three-pointers – two from Daghles and one from Abbas as Jordan pulled away anew, 60-48, with 3:54 left in the match.
Another basket by Abbas put Jordan on safer ground, 69-55. Another Wright basket gave his team its largest lead, 75-57, to finally take the fight out of the Filipinos, who made the semifinals of this tournament for the first time since 1987.
The Philippine team will play for the bronze on Sunday against the loser of the other semifinal pairing between China and South Korea. Apart from a podium finish, at stake in the game is a slot in a qualifying tournament for the 2012 London Olympics, the last bus for basketball teams around the world to catch a ticket to the Games.
Source : interaksyon
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