Ambush! Qatar shocks off-form Gilas Pilipinas

The chance to win a gold medal for Gilas Pilipinas just got much smaller as they suffered a shocking 77-68 defeat against Qatar to start the quarterfinals of the basketball competitions in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

After leading in the first half, Gilas allowed the Qataris to go on a whopping 19-0 run bridging the second and third quarters as they built a 51-39 lead. Jimmy Alapag tried his best to carry the Philippines on his back again but he got little help from everyone else.

After Gilas cut Qatar’s lead down to five at 70-65, they yielded two easy baskets to fall behind by nine with less than two minutes left in the game.

Alapag made a triple to inch within six, 74-68. Gilas forced two turnovers off Qatar but they came up empty in both tries.

With the loss, Gilas now needs to defeat South Korea and Kazakhstan to have a shot at making it to the knockout semifinals.

Qatar started the game with a 7-1 run but Gilas wrested control of the game to take a 12-9 lead after two free throws from Marc Pingris. The Qataris responded with an 8-1 run to lead 17-13 as Gilas found itself in penalty.

LA Tenorio then powered a Philippine run as they knotted the score at 19-all after the first quarter.

Gilas started the second period with an 8-0 run with June Mar Fajardo scoring an inside basket and Paul Lee sinking back-to-back triples for a 27-19 advantage.

Jared Dillinger joined Lee’s three-point party to reinstall an eight-point lead at 32-24 lead. Qatar then outscored the Philippines 8-2 to cut the lead down to just two points but Jeff Chan stepped in to the game and promptly nailed a triple and a long two to extend their lead to seven, 39-32.

Qatar ended the first half with a 4-0 reply for a 39-36 count in favor of Gilas.

Qatar opened the second half with three straight triples to take a 45-39 lead, forcing Gilas head coach Chot Reyes to burn an early timeout.

When play resumed, the Filipinos turned the ball over two straight times leading to two more Qatar triples that extended their lead to 12 at 51-39.

Gary David finally broke the drought for the Philippines with two free throws. Lee added another free throw but Qatar brought their lead back to 12 at 54-42 after a three-point play on the break.

Jimmy Alapag then nailed three straight triples to inject life into a tentative Philippine team. Gilas cut Qatar’s lead down to five 56-51, at the end of the third quarter.

Gilas inched closer as they cut Qatar’s lead down to four, 63-59, with 6:18 left in the game. However, the Qataris responded with a crippling 5-0 run to bring their lead back up to nine, 68-59.

Chan and Norwood gave Gilas some hope as they scored four straight points for a 70-65 count in Qatar’s favor.

The scores:

Qatar 77: Mohamed MY 19, Watson 15, Daoud 11, Ali Saeed 10, Abdi 8, Mohamed MA 5, Elhadary 4, Mohamed B 3, Abdulla 2, Musa 0,

Gilas 68: Alapag 15, Douthit 10, Lee 9, Pingris 9, Chan 7, Tenorio 5, David 4, Dillinger 3, De Ocampo 2, Norwood 2, Fajardo 2, Aguilar 0.