Gilas five loses steam, bows to Japan

HSINCHUANG – Smart Gilas Pilipinas simply lacked the energy and intensity playing a second straight game within 24 hours yesterday, suffering a 74-84 defeat to Japan in the penultimate day of the 32nd Williams Jones Cup at the Hsinchuang Gymnasium here.

The Nationals engaged the Japanese in a toe-to-toe battle in the first 38 minutes before fading away in the crunch as they kissed their championship hopes goodbye with a second loss in five outings.

The Filipinos were still in the thick of things when Mac Baracael and Marcus Douthit committed back-to-back errors, allowing the Japanese to ignite a decisive 10-4 closing run.

Japan, also running a new program under coach Thomas Wisman in a determined bid to regain its old place in Asian basketball landscape, caught up with Smart Gilas at 3-2.

Smart Gilas goes up against Lebanon at 3 p.m. while Japan takes on Taiwan U All Stars at 5 p.m. today with the Filipinos, the Lebanese and the Japanese all out to salvage second place in the weeklong tourney.

“We just couldn’t defend and we played bad. Maybe, it’s because of fatigue. We’re not able to recover playing late last night (7 p.m.) then returning to play early today (1 p.m.game), ” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.

“We gave up easy baskets on fastbreak. Still, we had a chance to win but we committed two errors in the crucial moment,” Toroman added. “They’re the better team today.”

“We’re lucky to play the Philippines in the early game after they played the late game last night. It showed that they didn’t have the legs,” said Wisman.

Former Phoenix Sun Yuta Tabushe presided over Japan’s running game that had them overcoming Smart Gilas’ domination off the boards.

With high-scoring forward Kosuke Kanamura sidelined by an injury, the Japanese compensated with a deadly motion offense coupled with a efficient methodical defense.

“There’s no excuses, they’re really the better team in this game,” said Smart Gilas team captain Chris Tiu.

“They did their homework so well we just couldn’t run our plays. Their defense started with pressing formation then they shifted to zone. We really couldn’t run our plays,” Tiu added.

Japan’s tough defense threw Smart Gilas off-balanced, forcing the Filipinos to commit 16 turnovers.

Douthit accounted for four errors, the last parlayed by guard Ryota Sakurai into two charities that gave the Japanese a 78-70 advantage with time down to 48 seconds.

The 6-foot-10 Douthit gave the Japanese anxious moments earlier as he piled up 21 rebounds, 20 points, three assists and two steals, cutting down to size the burly 7-foot-2 Japanese center Fumihiko Aono.

The Japanese coach opted to sit down Aono in the closing minutes, relying on a short but sleek combination to beat the Filipinos at the finish.

Japan converted 60 percent of its two-point shots, much better than the Philippines’ 43-percent clip.

Smart Gilas, however, kept the game close with Douthit throwing his weight around the paint and Baracael and Marcius Lassiter hitting timely treys.

Baracael hit three triples and led all scorers with 24 points while Lassiter made four three-pointers and wound up with 16 points.

The scores:

JAPAN 84 — Amino 13, Hirose 13, Tabuse 10, Aono 10, Yamada 8, Kinoshita 8, Ishizaki 8, Sakurai 6, Nagayama 4, Takeda 4, Kanamura 0, Mitsuhara 0.

RP 74 — Baracael 24, Douthit 20, Lassiter 16, Barroca 6, Casio 4, Ababou 2, Slaughter 2, Tiu 0, Lutz 0.

Quarters: 17-15; 34-32, 52-55, 84-74