Smart Gilas beats ASU of Jordan to top group A; Will face Syrian Team in QF

Don Don Hontiveros

MANILA, Philippines (22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup): Dondon Hontiveros celebrated his 34th birthday leading Smart Gilas to a 76-74 win against Jordanian champions ASU on Wednesday as as defending champions Mahram played a tactically sound game to beat last year’s runners-up Al Rayyan of Qatar 81-64.

Birthday boy

In a game termed “explosively tactical” by both coaches, Hontiveros stood as a beacon firing six long-rangers in his team-high 23 points, as Smart Gilas held their nerve in front of a partisan crowd.

The win, which took Smart Gilas to 4-0, pitted the home team against Al Jala’a of Syria in the quarterfinals for Friday leaving ASU line up against last year’s runners-up Al Rayyan.

“This was a typical international game,” Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman heaved a sigh of relief.

“Very tactical. They had the size, but I think we did very well to stop them,” he added.

“Of course we ran into foul trouble, but that is a part of the game,” he said.

Naturalised American Marcus Douthit played for just about five minutes in the second half, but during his presence added size and contributed 14 points and half as many rebounds.

Asi Taulava stepped up to make up for Douthit’s absence with a dozen rebounds.

“I have been saying from day one that Asi’s presence in the team is a great strength for us. He made us breathe a lot easier in defense,” Toroman said.

“Offensively we have to pull our socks,” the coach said of the quarterfinal clash against Jala’a.

Smart Gilas shot a mere 27/74 on the field, but were slightly better – as reflected in the score-line – ASU’s 23/63.

“They out ran us, that was expected,” said ASU coach Fredrick Oniga. “But they defended our size very well. That was the key,” he said.

American Jameel Watkins had a 25-point game-high for ASU.   

FRIDAY’S QUARTERFINAL SCHEDULE

1400: Al Riyadi (LIB) Vs.Duhok (IRQ)

1600: Mahram (IRI) Vs. Al Ittihad (KSA)

1800: Smart Gilas (PHI) Vs. Al Jala’a (SYR)

2000: ASU (JOR) Vs. Al Rayyan (QAT)

Note: All Times Manila Local (GMT +0800)