ALLAN THE MAN

Gilas Pilipinas played lackadaisical basketball for the most part, but still did enough to beat Hong Kong, 67-55, to close its 2013 FIBA Asia Championship second round campaign on Wednesday, August 7 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

FIBA Asia Championship 2013. The Philippine national men’s basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas,  flirted with disaster in the first three quarters before cleaning up its act in the final period to defeat Hong Kong, 67-55, on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The victory formally gave Gilas Pilipinas the top spot in Group E, but not before a poor start that had coach Chot Reyes fuming at the sidelines.

FIBA Asia Championship 2013 for Men is the intercontinental championship for basketball organized by FIBA Asia that serves as the qualifying tournament for the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.

Qatar erased any notion of a Hong Kong upset, jumping out to an early lead before fashioning out an 87-64 victory to top Group B of the FIBA Asia Championship on Saturday.

The Gulf squad raced to a 32-14 first quarter lead to cruise to its second win of the tournament after squeaking past Japan last Friday. Former NBA first round pick Jarvis Hayes, who joined Qatar as a naturalized player prior to the tournament, sizzled with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting. He shot 5-of-6 from beyond the arc in 24 minutes of action.

Japan used a furious third quarter run to break away from a surprisingly tough Hong Kong squad en route to a 96-79 victory on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Hong Kong, traditionally a minnow in Asian competition, waxed hot with eight three-pointers in the first half to keep the game close at the break, trailing Japan by just one point, 41-40. It was still only a hairline lead, 50-49, midway through the third quarter when Japan unleashed a 14-4 run to end the period.