ALLAN THE MAN

Lebanon, and not the Philippines, will host the FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship next year.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Sonny Barrios disclosed the news to InterAKTV shortly after the FIBA Asia executive committee informed them that Lebanon was granted the hosting rights for the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifier.

SMART Gilas 2.0 finds itself crossing path with Chinese-Taipei yet again as the Taiwanese drew the Filipinos as their quarterfinal opponents in the FIBA Asia Cup championship in Tokyo, Japan Tuesday night.

The Taiwanese banked on a perfectly executed alley-oop play which Lu Cheng-ju converted at the buzzer for a thrilling 75-73 win on the final day of the preliminaries at the Ota gym.

Former PBA import Denzel Bowles, who led the B-MEG Llamados (now San Mig Coffee Mixers) to the Commissioner’s Cup title last season, will be back in Asia to suit up for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Bowles posted on his Twitter account that he is in China to play hoops, but did not specify any team. But basketball reference site Asia-Basket.com lists him on the Zhejiang roster.

Watch Full Game Replay of Smart Gilas Philippines vs Macau National team in the preliminary round of 2012 FIBA Asia Cup being held in Tokyo, Japan. 

Gilas Philippines over-matched Macau by 52 points, with that Philippines has a record of 3 Wins and 1 Loss and ties for the top spot in the Group A.

The scores:

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.

Watch Full Game Replay of Smart Gilas Philippines vs Uzbekistan Here. Gilas Philippines defeats Uzbekistan by 35. 

Game Highlights:

-Jeff Chan led Smart Gilas with 20 points (4/7 from 3-point range)

-Matt Ganuelas Rosser with 8 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals

-Smart Gilas shot well from the field (44%) and in the 3-point area (8/20)

-9 players with 5 or more points

The SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team barely broke a sweat in dispatching Uzbekistan, 85-50, for its second straight victory in the FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo, Japan.

Jeff Chan led all scorers with 20 points for the Philippine team, which was never seriously threatened in the game. SMART-Gilas limited Uzbekistan to just five points in the second quarter to break away for a 39-21 halftime lead before cruising to victory in the second half.

Chan, who had only managed to score five points total in the Philippines’ first two games in the tournament, had a breakout performance with 20 points, including four three-pointers, in just 18 minutes of play while Jared Dillinger was the only other Filipino in double figures. Five others players scored seven or more points for SMART-Gilas.