FIBA ASIA - Smart Gilas break into Gulf-WABA hegemony

MANILA (22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup) - Smart Gilas became the first team to break into the WABA-Gulf hegemony of top-four finishes in the last four FIBA Asia Champions Cup with a resurgent 85-80 triumph against Syria’s Al Jala’a on Friday.

The last time any team outside of Gulf-WABA subzones of FIBA Asia played in the semi-finals of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup was when Smart Gilas’ compatriots – San Miguel – made the last four at the Tehran edition of the Champions Cup in 2007.

Incidentally the Filipino outfit had lost to Al Jala’a in the semi-finals on that occasion.

Smart Gilas will now match wits with two-time defending champions of Mahram of Iran who earlier in the day stamped their authority in their 102-65 defeat of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad.

Saturday's second semi-final will feature Lebanese giants Al Riyadi Beirut - who ran their fellow WABA rivals Duhok of Iraq roughshod in their 106-80 win - against last year’s runners-up Al Rayyan who were 83-77 winners against Jordanian champions Applied Science University (ASU).

Gilas fight back

Micheal Madanly helped Jala's into a 22-20 lead at the end of the first quarter and the visitors pulled away some more in the second period as Samaki Walker spearheaded a 13-0 run that saw them go up 35-20 and silenced the crowd.

But that 15-point lead as well as Jala'a's dominance proved to be momentary.

Smart Gilas pounced back with a 14-6 run over the next five minutes and kept themselves in the reckoning, trailing 41-34 at the break.

The hosts carried that momentum into the third quarter, tying the score on Chris Tiu's three-pointer and taking the lead on JP Aguilar’s three-point play with 1:37 left in the period.

Joe 'JV' Casio then connected from beyond the arc for a 61-57 advantage and Smart Gilas did not trail the rest of the way.

“Our position 4 and 5 were almost non-existent. Marcus (Douthit) or JP (Aguilar) we just let them (Jala’a) have to way too easy,” Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman said of the early deficit.

Mighty Mahram

Mahram scored the first 18 points of their quarter-final against Al Ittihad and were never tested.

Senegalese Samb Cheikh who had five points in that early run – including a three-point play and a customary slam dunk – went on to lead the scoring for Mahram with 18 points.

American Chris Williams accounted for six points in the spree and finished with 14.

“We have been having a little trouble at the start in all our games here. I think we took care of that today,” said Mahram coach Mehran Shahintab.

“Further, I wanted to give our bench players on the court, because most of them are National Team players too. This was the first opportunity to give them a chance. That way I am happy with the win,” he added.

Abdel Nour’s spark

Duhok raced to an early 9-2 lead, but that lead proved short-lived as Jean Abdel Nour sparked a Riyadi blitz that put paid to any hopes of a close result, let alone an upset.

“We knew they’d try to hustle us early on. I’d told the boys exactly that, therefore we were not worried too much,” Abouchakra said.

Abdel Nour, a star performer in Riyadi’s seventh successive win in the Lebanese Division A League this season - albeit sitting out the Finals through injury - showed glimpses of similar form early enough to put to rest any butterflies in coach Fouad Abouchakra’s stomach.

In all Abdel Nour accounted for 12 of Riyadi’s 29 points in the first quarter, and finished with a team-high 24 for the game.

Fadi El Khatib was as classy as ever with a 21-point game as Abouchakra fielded all his players – including Ali Mahmoud – and 10 of them scored.

Solid Rayyan

There was very little to choose between Rayyan and ASU for the better part of the game.

ASU rallied back through Wesam Al-Sous and Mohammad Hadrab to level the score 39 at the end of the first half and then reeled off the first six points of the second to edge in front.

However Rayyan showed more discipline on defense, and seemingly held the edge in size. They hit back in style with 12 unanswered points late across the late third quarter and early part of the final frame for a 65-55 lead.

Veteran Yasseen Musa’s (pictured) three-point play set the tone as Americans Chauncey Leslie and Michael Cuffee each converted a pair of free-throws.

Cuffee then hit a three-pointer and Omar Salem slammed one home.

ASU kept the pressure up and breathed down their rivals’ neck, but Rayyan’s offensive variety kept them ahead.

SATURDAY’S SEMI-FINALS (times local; GMT +0800; CET +0600)
18:00: Mahram (IRI) Vs. Smart Gilas (PHI)
20:00: Al Riyadi (LIB) Vs. Al Rayyan (QAT)

S Mageshwaran/FIBA Asia