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[av_heading heading=’Gilas banished by Jordan from FIBA-Asia Challenge’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas ended its campaign in the 2016 FIBA-Asia Challenge following a 119-105 defeat to Jordan on Wednesday at the Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran, Iran.
With the defeat, the Josh Reyes-mentored national men’s basketball team finished at fifth place in Group E with a 1-4 win-loss slate. Only the top four teams from the two groups will advance to the knockout quarterfinals round.
Jordan jumped to a 24-5 start behind the hot shooting of naturalized guard Dar Tucker. Gilas, however, recovered late in the period as consecutive hits by Mark Belo trimmed the deficit to 32-20.
Gilas inched closer to within single digits early in the second frame but Jordan countered with another huge run behind Tucker and MousaAlawadi for a 65-43 lead at halftime.
Gilas made its move anew early in the third canto behind Chris Michael Tolomia to come to within 13 markers at 72-59 but Jordan responded with another scoring spree for a 99-70 edge.
Jordan’s lead increased to as high as 35 points early in the fourth stanza until Gilas made the score respectable late in the game on consecutive triples by Von Pessumal.
With less than a second remaining in the match, a near free-for-all match ensured between the two teams as Jordanian Muhammad Hussein planted an elbow on Gilas’ Eduardo Daquioag.
Tucker led the way with 37 points, 30 coming in the first 20 minutes, while Hussein chipped in 26 markers and 13 rebounds for Jordan, which improved its record to 4-1.
Pessumal, meanwhile, top-scored with 30 points, including nine three-point baskets, while Tolomia and Belo contributed 19 and 17 points respectively for the amateur-laden Gilas team.
“These are young players. They battle in Tehran with unfairexpectation,” said Reyes. “We’re playing in Tehran because it’s our commitment. It’s a FIBA-sanctioned tourney that we have to play.”
The FIBA-Asia Challenge Cup served as the first step in the determining process for the qualifiers of the 2017 FIBA-Asia Cup, which will feature teams from both FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania for the first time./PN
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