Gilas finishes 6th in Dubai

The Smart Gilas cadet team played its best game in the 24th Dubai International Basketball Championship against Mouttahed Tripoli of Lebanon Friday but fell short of repeating over the team it beat in the elimination round to finish the tourney at sixth place. The Nationals, sans Marcus Douthit who sprained his ankle in their quarterfinal match against Sagesse on Thursday, engaged the bigger Lebanese team in a neck-and-neck battle but committed a costly turnover in endgame that blew their chance of pulling off an upset.

With Mouttahed up by just two points and with four seconds left in the game, Gilas made an errant pass off a baseline play that could have tied or even won the game for the Philippine squad. Mouttahed won the battle for fifth place, 77-75. In their first meeting on January 11, Gilas shaded Mouttahed, 79-77.

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But despite the absence of Douthit, the young Pinoys showed grit and character in engaging the tough Lebanese club, which led by as much as 14 points in the first half. Mouttahed was ahead, 55-44, by halftime.

But the Nationals caught fire in the third canto as they unloaded six triples, three from KG Canaleta and two from Garvo Lanete, to take the driver’s seat at 69-62. The payoff period saw a seesaw battle that had the game tied at 75-all in the last two minutes of play. But Mouttahed’s Samer Mochref was able to sneak in a lay-up to give the lead back to the Lebanese.

Lanete finished with 27 markers on six of nine shooting from behind the arc, and eight boards while Canaleta and RR Garcia added 14 points apiece.

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“We learned a lot from this tournament but more importantly, we learned a lot about the players in the cadet line-up. Not only about their skills, but more importantly about their character and their ability to play when the stakes are high. But it’s so obvious that the competition here is far more superior than our players. We played against more experienced teams with three imports,” said Reyes, who acknowledged the great effort shown by the cadet squad in the game.

Lanete was the most consistent scorer in this tournament for Gilas with 13.8 points per game average followed by Canaleta’s 12.2.

The cadet team is being groomed for the SEABA tournament and Southeast Asian Games. Some of the key members of the cadet squad will be joining selected PBA players to comprise the Gilas team that will compete in the Hong Kong invitational tournament next week. Expected to be tapped for the tournament are members of the recently crowned PBA All-Filipino champion Talk N’ Text such as Ranidel De Ocampo, Larry Fonacier, Kelly Williams and Jimmy Alapag. Gilas hopes to qualify for the World Cup next year by winning the Asian championship, which will be hosted by the Philippines later this year.

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.