Team Gilas rocks Asia Cup rival Iraq

TAIPEI – Gilas Pilipinas recovered from the trauma of its horrendous shooting the night before and gave Iraq a glimpse of what to expect in the FIBA Asia Cup.

The Nationals cut the tall, rugged Iraqis down to size with their physical game throughout and pulled off an 84-75 victory in their Jones Cup face-off at the Taipei Peace Basketball Gymnasium here last night.

Christian Standhardinger was thrown out for two deliberate fouls, the last on Iraqi forward Dhulfiqar Al-hchaimi where the Fil-German sneaked in a body shot that sent the Iraqi sprawling to the baseline and so infuriated was Gilas coach Chot Reyes he ordered Standhardinger out of the playing court.

The Gilas shooters atoned for their awful four-percent three-point shooting in their 72-83 loss to Korea the previous night and found some of their old shooting touch against the Iraqis.

Mike Myers also provided a solid inside presence as Team Phl humbled the Iraqis led by their do-it-all naturalized player Demario Mayfield.

The Nationals overcame Mayfield’s 29-point explosion and the ejection of Standhardinger on deliberate fouls as Gilas caught up with Korea at second place at 4-2, half-game behind frontrunner Canada (5-1).

Earlier in the day, the Canadians walloped the Koreans, 98-72, for a second straight win after being stunned by the host team.

The Nationals hit 7-of-21 three-pointers after making only 1-of-26 against the Koreans. Matthew Wright, RR Pogoy and Carl Bryan Cruz nailed two each while Kevin Ferrer knocked in one.

“Had we made at least three (against Korea), we could have won the game,” said Reyes.

He added that a key factor for the Philippines’ romp over Iraq was winning the rebounding battle, 43-28.

“Going to this game, we knew it’s important to get the rebounds. We saw them against Taipei, using their power and strength to get 22 offensive rebounds. We focused tonight not to give those rebounds,” said Reyes.

Myers collected 18 boards and 16 points, helping the Nationals score the feel-good victory against an opponent they’re to face in the group play of the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon on Aug. 8-20.

“Hard to tell,” said Reyes when asked if their triumph here would be an indication of what’s to come in their Asia Cup battle.

“We don’t want to give them extra motivation but we want to get a feel and understand them. A big part of coming here is to really learn and understand to compete against these much bigger teams. As much as it would help us, it would help them as well,” Reyes added.

Standhardinger was hardly of help as he’s limited to nine minutes of action due to two deliberate fouls.

Reyes didn’t tolerate Standhardinger’s cheap shots.

“I don’t like the extra stuffs. There’s a fine line between being rugged and downright dirty. It’s not us. I don’t care if we lose but we’ll not play that way. We’re gonna be strong, tough but will not cross that line,” said Reyes.

The Gilas coach had an early spat with the Fil-German following an error and a defensive lapse.

“Tell me if you don’t want to play,” Reyes hollered at Standhardinger in a timeout midway through the first quarter.

He returned the player already at the 3:24 mark of the third. And Standhardinger didn’t finish the game as he was tossed out of the game with a second deliberate foul on Iraqi forward Dhulfiqar Al-hchaimi.

The scores:

Philippines 84 – Myers 16, Ravena 13, Pogoy 12, Cruz 10, Jalalon 10, Wright 8, Standhardinger 4, Jose 4, Ferrer 3, Paras 2, Parks 2.

Iraq 75 – Mayfield 29, Al-hchaimi 17, Abdullah 8, Khajehzadeh 7, Ismael 4, Hameed 4, Alazawi 3, Aljuboori 3, Al-tameemi 0, Talib 0, Hamzah 0.

Quarterscores:15-19, 36-22, 63-49, 84-75