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Gilas off to good start in Dubai, nips Lebanon

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Inspired by the recent announcement of FIBA Asia that this year’s Asian Championship will be held in Manila, the Smart Gilas Pilipinas national men’s team got off to a rousing start here in the 24th Dubai International Basketball Championship by nipping Al Mouttahed Tripoli of Lebanon, 79-77, Friday at the Al-Ahli Club gym, to the delight of about two thousand Filipino fans.

The nationals shook off a slow start to thwart the No. 3 team in the tough Lebanese league that boasts of three American imports - Marc Salyers, Eric Chatfield and Larry Cox. Salyers is a 6’9” forward who has played all over Europe, while Chatfield is a hotshot from the University of New Mexico. Cox is a 6’10” behemoth who leads the Lebanese league in blocks with 3.9 per game.

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The Lebanese started the game on fire, leading by as many as 15 points, at 18-3, on two triples by Salyers. Mouttahed was ahead, 22-10, after the first period. But the gritty young Philippine squad unloaded five treys in the second quarter, two of which came from Meralco Bolts ace gunner Ronjay Buenafe, to take the half, 41-40.

Naturalized import Marcus Douthit took control in the third canto as he scattered ten markers to keep Gilas still on top, 59-58, going into the payoff period.

In the fourth quarter, it was a Garvo Lanete and Kevin Alas show as the former NCAA rivals collaborated with a run and gun attack to counter the clear size advantage of Mouttahed. Alas, the former Letran standout, fed ex-San Beda star Lanete with a couple of excellent feeds. Lanete connected on a triple and two floaters in a three-minute span.

Alas also fed Greg Slaughter with an alley hoop pass that the former completed with a slam, and delivered a crucial three-ball with just under four minutes left. But in the end, it was excellent team defense that sealed the victory for this Philippine squad that was formed in less than two months before the tournament, capped by a Lanete steal in the dying seconds of the game.

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Douthit led Gilas with 20 points and eight boards, while Lanete and Buenafe added 15 and 10 markers respectively. Alas also had a superb game with nine points, five assists and four steals.

“In the Jones Cup, all of our wins came from behind. Never, never give-up. But I thought the key in end game was our ability to make some stops,” said head coach Chot Reyes.

Gilas and Mouttahed engaged in a shooting contest. But the Filipinos prevailed with 11 out of 25 triples as opposed to their opponents’ eight of 31. But the bigger Lebanese won the battle of the boards, 35-29, including 17 offensive rebounds. But Gilas had more assists, 15-9.

Gilas faces home team Al-Ahli Club, UAE’s top professional team, later today.

Smart Gilas and Mouttahed are joined in Group B by UAE’s Al-Ahli Club and Jordan’s Al Riyadi Club. In Group A are Sagesse and Al-Riyadi clubs from Beirut, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates national team. A team from Kazakhstan was supposed to be part of Group A but backed-out at the last minute.

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Two years ago, the first batch of Gilas under Serbian coach Rajko Toroman placed second behind Egypt’s El Ettehad Club in this tournament. The only remaining member of that batch is Douthit. Slaughter was part of the 2010 Gilas squad that placed third behind Mahram of Iran and Al-Riyadi of Lebanon.

The Philippine team will easily become the most popular squad here as Dubai has over 800,000 Filipino overseas workers. Pinoys make up the biggest crowd in this annual tournament as they look forward to seeing the nationals in action.

The other members of the squad are KG Canaleta of Air 21, JayR Reyes of Meralco, RR Garcia, Ronald Pascual, Jake Pascual, and Matthew Ganuelas of NLEX, and Fil-Am recruits Justin Melton and Issac Holstein. Coach Chot is assisted by former national coach Jong Uichico.

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.