Gilas falls to Chinese Taipei

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – A nation heartbroken. 

Gilas Pilipinas looked headed for an impressive win, but withered in the final quarter to fall to Chinese Taipei, 79-84, in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships on Saturday, August 3, before a crowd of almost 20,000 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Philippines led, 68-55, after 3 periods, before Chinese Taipei rallied to take the lead off a basket by Tseng Wen-Ting with 4:10 remaining, completing a 19-4 run that caught Gilas off guard. 

Tseng struck hard again during crunch time with a triple that gave them back the lead at 78-77 before Lu Cheng-Ju fired a dagger triple that silenced the crowd with 1:28 remaining.

The win was Chinese Taipei’s 3rd straight while the Philippines dropped to 2-1 and finished in 2nd place.

Scorching from downtown

Chinese Taipei started off amazingly from beyond the arc, making 6 of 7 attempts from 3-point range to race to a 30-19 advantage at the end of the first.

But Gilas began making inroads in the 2nd quarter, with Jimmy Alapag leading the Philippines’ charge as they tied the match at 30-all off an Alapag free-throw with 6:36 remaining before the break.

Chinese Taipei responded with a quick 8-0 blitz to retake the lead, 38-30, off 3-pointers by Lu and Tseng, but Gilas dominated the last 4 minutes of the half to build a slim 43-42 advantage.

Fourth-quarter meltdown

Larry Fonacier then sizzled in the 3rd quarter, rifling in 3-pointer after 3-pointer as the Philippines entered the final 10 minutes with a huge 68-55 lead.

Gilas, though, failed to stop Chinese Taipei’s offensive onslaught in the final canto, with the visitors going on a backbreaking 19-4 blast that turned the deficit into a 74-72 bubble with 4:10 left.

The Philippines went to Marcus Douthit in the post to try to counter Chinese Taipei’s assault, but Douthit did not get support from Gilas’ snipers as shots failed to find the bottom of the net to the chagrin of the huge Filipino crowd.

Sorry loss

Fonacier led the Philippines with 21 points spiked by 4 three-pointers while Douthit got the better of his Chinese Taipei counterpart with 16 markers and 10 rebounds.

Jayson Castro electrified the crowd again, but converted only 4 of his 15 shot attempts to wind up with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, even as Ranidel de Ocampo heated up early to score 13 markers.

On the other hand, Lu topped all scorers with 22 points off 6 triples while Lin Chih-Chieh flirted with a triple-double and added 20 points, 9 boards and 12 assists. – Rappler.com

The scores:

CHINESE TAIPEI (84) – Lu 22, Lin 20, Tien 18, Tseng 16, Davis 6, Yang 2, Lee 0, Chen 0, Hung 0, Tsai 0, Creighton 0

PHILIPPINES (79) – Fonacier 21, Douthit 16, De Ocampo 13, Castro 11, Alapag 9, Norwood 9, David 0, Tenorio 0, Chan 0, Aguilar 0, Pingris 0

Quarters: 30-19, 42-43, 55-68, 84-79