The Year in Sports: Gilas II conquers Jones Cup
(Editor’s note: Yahoo! PH Sports looks back at the year that was with a series of blogs recalling the highlights and lowlights of Philippine sports.)
A hastily formed Philippine National Men’s Basketball squad, dubbed Smart Gilas II, immediately made a huge impact in Asian basketball after capturing the prestigious 34th William Jones Cup. Barely three weeks after its formation, the almost all-pro national team shocked a selection team from the USA, 76-75, last August to capture the 2012 Jones Cup title in Taipei, Taiwan.
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Former Talk N’ Text coach Chot Reyes was named by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas as new head coach of the national men’s team, replacing Serbian Rajko Toroman, who steered Gilas I to a fourth place finish in the last FIBA Asia Championship. Reyes immediately formed a pool of professional and amateur players that will train with him to prepare for the 2013 Asian championships, the qualifying tournament for the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.
Reyes named Alaska’s LA Tenorio, Sonny Thoss and Mac Baracael, Rain Or Shine’s Jeff Chan and Gabe Norwood, Meralco’s Sol Mercado and Jay-R Reyes, Powerade’s Gary David, Ginebra’s Enrico Villanueva, Talk N’Text’s Ranidel De Ocampo and Larry Fonacier, and amateur players Garvo Lanete of San Beda and Fil-Am recruit Matt Ganuelas Rosser to the Jones Cup roster. Beefing up the squad is naturalized American import Marcus Douthit.
Using a fluid dribble-drive motion offense, the Nationals posted a 7-1 win-loss card going into the their last game versus the USA, which also had the same record. In the Jones Cup, the top team after the single round tournament wins the title outright. There are no quarter or semis playoffs. Going into the last day of the tournament, both the Philippines and USA were tied on top. Since both teams were set to play against each other that day, the winner automatically bagged the crown.
Tenorio was the unanimous choice as best player of the tournament after a sensational 20-point performance against the Americans, including the game winning shot. One of the best point guards in the PBA, LA connected on a jumper off a ball screen from Marcus Douthit with only 19.9 ticks left in the game to push Gilas to the victory in Taipei. He scattered 11 points to lead the Nationals to an incredible 25-16 rally from a 51-59 deficit at the start of the payoff period. Jeff Chan, who unloaded five triples, finished with 18 markers, while Douthit had 17.
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From a slim 13-12 advantage at the start of the second quarter, the Americans stormed to a 34-20 lead until Chan drilled a triple to end the first half at 34-23, in favor of the USA. In the third period, both squads stepped up on offense, but Gilas prevailed, 28-25, to come to within eight at 51-59, going into the last quarter. Tenorio also spearheaded Gilas’ offense in the third with nine points.
Then it was another Tenorio show in the fourth canto. He hit five straight points at the start of the period before Gabe Norwood forced a tie at 59-all with a three-ball. A seesaw battle ensued with nine lead changes until the final count. With still 2:14 remaining and Gilas up, 72-70, James Justice uncorked a triple from the top to grab the lead for the USA, 73-72. Then Douthit and Jermaine Dearman exchanged baskets for a 75-74 USA edge, with time down to 19.9 seconds.
Coach Chot Reyes called a pick and roll play with Tenorio and Douthit that enabled the former to connect with the off-the-dribble jumper. The gutsy Filipinos were able to make the necessary defensive stop forcing the Americans to foul and send Chan to the stripe, with just 1.9 seconds left in the game. As he bungled the first shot, Reyes instructed Chan to deliberately miss the second. The ball went out of bounds with just 0.9 tick remaining but the Americans were still able to make a desperation heave at the basket that misfired, sending the Nationals and a good number of Filipino supporters into a frenzy.
Gilas II passed its first test of international competition with flying colors. In the Jones Cup, the Philippines scored wins versus national teams from Jordan (88-78), Chinese-Taipei A (76-72), Chinese-Taipei B (99-68), Japan (88-84), and defending champion Iran (77-75), and a professional team from South Korea called KGC (82-79). Its only loss came at the hands of Lebanon (72-91).
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“Heart won it for us versus Japan, Korea, Iran and the US. These guys just don’t know the meaning of quit,” said Reyes.
“We came here for two reasons, and obviously we achieved our goals.”
Last year, Smart Gilas I bagged third place honors behind Iran and Korea. The only holdovers from the 2011 line-up are Douthit and Baracael.
The Philippines also won this tournament in 1998, 1985 and 1981. In 1998, a powerhouse all-pro squad known as the Centennial Team conquered the Jones Cup. In that team were PBA all-time greats Allan Caidic, Alvin Patrimonio, Johnny Abarrientos, Vergel Meneses and Kenneth Duremdes, with Tim Cone as head coach.
Right after the Jones Cup, Gilas II settled for fourth place in the FIBA Asia Cup held in Tokyo, Japan. With an almost the same roster, the Nationals lost to Qatar in the battle for third, 63-79. They also lost to Iran, 60-77, in the semis. In Tokyo, Talk N’ Text’s Jared Dillinger replaced Lanete in the Gilas’ line-up.
Currently, the Gilas cadet pool is gearing up for the Dubai Invitational in January 2013. The pool is composed of top amateur players namely Lanete, Rosser, Ateneo’s Greg Slaughter, San Sebastian’s Ronald Pascual, Letran’s Kevin Alas, San Beda’s Jake Pascual, FEU’s RR Garcia and Fil-Am guard Justin Melton. Joining the young cagers are PBA standouts Ronjay Buenafe and Jay-R Reyes of Meralco and KG Canaleta of Air 21, and Douthit. The tournament will be held on January 10-19, and will be participated by top professional squads from Lebanon, Qatar, UAE and other Asian countries, most of them bolstered by two American imports. In 2011, Gilas I placed second behind Egypt in the same tournament.
Let’s hope that 2013 will be another great year for the Smart Gilas Pilipinas national team.
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.
