ALLAN THE MAN

The SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team hardly needed naturalized center Marcus Douthit as they thumped an overmatched Macau side, 98-46, to close their Group A campaign with a 3-1 record and at least a tie for the top spot of their group in the 4th FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo, Japan.

Jeff Chan scored 18 points while Jay-R Reyes and Gary David scored 12 points apiece as the Philippines cruised for their third victory despite opting to give Douthit the day off.

SMART-Gilas showed they were clearly a class above their opponents, a team with an average age of just 20 years old and whose tallest player stood at just 6-foot-7, as they fired off a 14-0 run right off the bat.


Ranidel De Ocampo opened scoring with an easy hook shot off of nice spin move, Matt Rosser had a big alley-oop dunk off of an LA Tenorio lob, and Jeff Chan knocked down shots right and left as SMART-Gilas scored a whopping 33 points in a huge first quarter.

Chan, fresh off a breakout performance in their previous game, scored 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting, including three three-pointers, in the opening period that saw the Filipinos lead by 19 points.

Macau tried to put up more of a fight in the second quarter, outscoring the Philippines 18-12 to start the second period to come to within 13, 45-32, with 2:42 remaining. But Rosser scored on a tough layup, Gabe Norwood hit a corner three and Chan knocked down another triple from the opposite corner as they re-established control of the game with an 8-0 run.

SMART-Gilas closed the first half with a 55-33 advantage, hitting 23-for-39 (59%) from the field and 8-for-17 (47%) from the three-point line.

David then caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 10 points as SMART-Gilas opened leads of as high as 42 points, the last on a Jared Dillinger basket with just three seconds left in the period, before pushing the advantage up to 52 points in the fourth quarter as they cruised to the easy win.

The Philippines allowed just 13 points for Macau in the entire second half, while scoring 43 points.

SMART-Gilas dominated every aspect of the game, outscoring their opponents 46-14 in points in the paint while shooting a 41% clip from three-point range. They also had 24 assists, led by nine from Rosser, who had one more assist than the entire Macau squad combined.

SMART-Gilas momentarily takes the Group A lead, but Lebanon (2-1) and China (1-1) are both expected to sweep their games against lightweight opponents to force a potential three-way tie on top heading into the eight-team quarterfinals.

The scores:

SMART-Gilas Pilipinas (98) – Chan 18, David 12, Reyes 12, Dillinger 11, Rosser 11, Norwood 9, Tenorio 7, Fonacier 6, Thoss 6, De Ocampo 4, Villanueva 2.

Macau (46) – Lao 14, Cheong 12, Lo 10, Cai 6, Lai 4, K. Iong 0, N. Iong 0, Wong 0.

Quarterscores: 33-14, 55-33, 83-41, 98-46.

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