Team Gilas Pilipinas survives Big Comeback by India Fiba Asia Cup 2014

The Philippine national men’s basketball team survived a scare against a hard-fighting Indian side, 70-66, to advance to the semifinals of the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China.

Gilas Pilipinas led by as much as 16 points heading into the last five minutes but were held scoreless the rest of the way as India rattled off 12 straight consecutive points but ran out of time.

Paul Lee once again led the way for the Filipinos with 15 points while naturalized center Marcus Douthit chipped in with a solid double-double performance with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Paul Lee Dalistan

Ranidel De Ocampo was the only other Philippine player in double figures with 13.

Unlike in their previous games, the Filipinos did not have their usual fast start in this one. India scored the first four points en route to an 11-6 lead with all of their points coming from Amritpal Singh and Joginder Singh.

The South Asian squad still led, 17-14, late in the first period before Gilas put together an impressive stretch where they outscored their foes 26-5 bridging the first two quarters.

De Ocampo and Jay Washington hit back-to-back three-pointers to close the opening period and the sweet-shooting Talk ‘N Text forward struck again – this time on a four-point play – to kick off the second quarter.

After a free throw for India, Kevin Alas kept the run going, scoring five straight points before De Ocampo added another to basket to cap an 11-1 run start for the Filipinos.

Gary David then led another flurry from the Philippines as they pushed their lead to a high of 18 points at 40-22.

India came back late to cut their deficit to 12, 45-33, at the break.

Douthit led the Filipinos with 10 points eight rebounds after the first two periods.

Gilas Pilipinas maintained the lead in the third, leading 60-47 heading into the final quarter but faltered late in the fourth.

Ranidel de Ocampo

The Filipinos, behind some timely threes from Lee, kept India at bay over the first five minutes of the quarter, leading 70-54 heading into the final stretch.  

Lee’s three-pointer at the 5:15 mark turned out to be the Filipinos’ final points of the game, as Amritpal Singh scored four straight points to spark India, which notched the last 12 points of the contest. -via www.interaksyon.com

Amritpal Singh led India with 20 points and 10 rebounds.www.interaksyon.com

The scores:
Gilas Pilipinas (70) – Lee 15, Douthit 14, De Ocampo 13, Washington 7, David 6, Alas 5, Dillinger 4, Tenorio 2, Fajardo 2, Aguilar 2, Lanete 0, Belga 0.

India (66) – Amr. Singh 20, P. Singh 10, Bhriguvanshi 10, J. Singh 9, Amj. Singh 8, Mishra 6, Y. Singh 2, Pethani 1, Grewal 0, Pari 0, Sivakumar 0.

Quarterscores: 20-17, 45-33, 60-47, 70-66.