Gilas Pilipinas exorcised their demons and pulled off an emotional 86-79 win over South Korea Saturday night in the knockout semifinal round of the FIBA Asia Championship in front of 18,361 white-clad and boisterous Filipino fans at Mall of Asia Arena.
With naturalized big man Marcus Douthit riding the bench due to a right calf injury and back-up center Japeth Aguilar neutralized because of fouls, Marc Pingris, who was also enduring pain on his right hamstring, anchored the Gilas resurgence in the second-half after they trailed in the first 20 minutes of the game.
The Philippines, which last won the Asian title in 1985 in Malaysia, surpassed its fourth-place finish two years ago in Wuhan, China.
South Korea has foiled the Philippines for a couple of times, the last time a 70-68 win in the bronze medal match of the 2011 championship.
This time, the remaining 12 men assembled by coach Chot Reyes never gave up and showed its fighting heart up to the final buzzer.
Staring at a still manageable 39-36 halftime deficit, cat-quick Jason Castro toyed with his defenders in four of the Philippines’ five offensive plays as Gilas opened the third period with an 11-0 blitz to take a 47-39 lead, close to four minutes gone in the clock.
Castro scored thrice on layups, then added a top-of-the-key three-pointer after a Pingris basket as the huge pro-Filipino crowd erupted into celebration.
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Gilas Pilipinas Jayson Williams goes up for a lay-up against South Korea’s Kin Jongkyu.
But the Koreans, the 2002 Asian Games basketball champions, didn’t go down easily, and answered every Gilas basket up until the three-minute and 41-second mark of the final quarter.
South Korea, staring at a 63-73 deficit, scored seven straight points – highlighted by Kim Min Goo’s rare four-point play – to take a 75-73 lead entering the final three minutes of the contest
Gilas team captain Jimmy Alapag finally came alive and engineered a 13-4 windup to complete the win.
Alapag had eight points in that pivotal run, even using a Pingris screen to nail the three-pointer that finally silenced the hard-fighting Koreans.
The five-foot-nine veteran playmaker’s triple gave Gilas an 84-79 cushion with 54 seconds left in the game.
Gilas Pilipinas now shoot for their first FIBA Asia title in 28 years when they face Iran at 7:30 p.m. tonight at MOA Arena in Pasay City.
Regardless of whether they can stop the Iran juggernaut tonight, the Philippines have secured a berth to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Madrid, Spain.
Photos: Ted Aljibe / AFP
