Hanging on to hope: Kazakhstan win over Qatar gives Gilas a shot at semis
“We need prayers,” said Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes after his team lost to South Korea in the Asian Games. The coach knew that their chances are slim. He also knew that their fate is out of their hands.
However, one prayer was answered for Reyes as Kazakhstan upset Qatar in the men’s basketball competitions an the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
Kazakhstan defeated Qatar 65-57 to give the Philippines a glimmer of hope in their bid to advance to the semifinals.
Dmitriy Garvilov led Kazakhstan with 22 points in only 14 minutes as he shot a whopping 10 of 13 from the field. Anatoliy Kolesnikov added 17 points while Antonov Ponomarev chipped in 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Mohd Yousuf Mohamed, the Qatari big guy who torched Gilas from outside in their game, scored only three points against Kazakhstan. Boney Harold Watson fouled out after only scoring six points in the game.
Winning against Kazakhstan still will not guarantee a ticket to the final four for Gilas as they need Korea to beat Qatar too.
As of the moment, Qatar has a +1 quotient after beating Gilas by nine and losing to Kazakhstan by eight. Kazakhstan is now at +8 after beating Qatar by that margin.
Gilas needs to defeat Kazakhstan by at least 11 points for possibly another shot at Iran in the crossover semifinals if they top their group.
Kazakhstan’s upset win was not the only one that happened on Saturday as Japan also scored one of epic proportions as they defeated China on the other side of the bracket.
Makoto Hiejima led five Japanese players in double digits as he scored 23 points. Peng Zhou and Yanyuhang Ding had 14 each for China but it was not enough to get the victory.
