MACAU MASSACRE

Merciless Smart Gilas by 52 points; Douthit gets a rest

By REY BANCOD

TOKYO – Smart Gilas coach Chot Reyes kept Marcus Douthit on the bench despite pleas from the small Filipino crowd Monday.

With the quarterfinal playoffs set to start two days from now, Reyes wanted his 6-11 center to get plenty of rest for the more important battles ahead.

Well, Reyes can afford to be confident.

Against Macau, Reyes can field utility man Bong Tulabot and even his assistant Jong Uichico and still get the job done. Add team manager Butch Antonio and liaison officer An drew Teh for good measure.

For the second straight day, Reyes did not call a timeout as Smart Gilas rolled over the former Portuguese colony, 98-46, with Jeff Chan again leading the offense with 18 points.

Known as the gambling capital of Asia, Macau never stood a chance against the Filipinos who used the game to test their defense.

Macau was held to just five points in the final quarter as the Filipinos did not let up pressing the ball carriers.

In the end, Macau shot only 29 percent from the field on 20-of-69, including 3-of30 from the three-point zone.

In contrast, the Filipinos, feasting on Macau’s token resistance, hit 41 of 67 for a high 61-percent clip from the field.

Chan accounted for four of Gilas’ nine 3-point conversions as the Filipinos appeared to have gotten their range from outside.

Jay R Reyes, who took the spot reserved for Douthit, had two treys while LA Tenorio, Gabe Norwood and Jared Dillinger had one each.

Fil-American amateur Matthew Ganuelas played for more than 28 minutes and finished with 11 points, including an alleyoop dunk that brought the house down.

Gary David missed all his four three-point shots, but found ways to score 12 points, the same output posted by Reyes.

All 11 men fielded by Reyes scored, including Larry Fonacier who had three straight baskets in the first quarter.

La Fu in, Macau’s top gunner, had 14 points on 6 of 19 shooting.

The Filipinos finished the preliminary round with three wins against a single defeat and will most likely end up No. 2 in Group A despite Lebanon’s stunning 89-69 win over China Sunday.

“I’m happy so far with the team’s performance. We’re defending well and doing the little things,“ Reyes said.

Reyes said he was worried about the team’s lack of practice.

“We only had two full practices because of the players’ commitments with their mother teams. It showed in the first two games where we shot poorly, but we still won over Lebanon which means the players’ conditioning is okay,“ said the Smart Gilas coach.

Reyes said while he wanted to keep his players sharp, he also wanted them to recover so he ordered a one-hour hard practice after their match in Macau before giving them a one-day rest on Tuesday.

The Philippines’ quarterfinal opponent will not be known until the end of the preliminaries on Tuesday.

Reyes expects either Chinese-Taipei or Qatar as their opponent.

“Kahit naman sino, mahirap ang laban. That’s why we’re going to resume practice on Wednesday,“ he said.

Scores:
PHILIPPINES 98 – Chan 18, David 12, Reyes 12, Dillinger 11, Ganuelas 11, Norwood 9, Tenorio 7, Fonacier 6, Thoss 6, De Ocampo 4, Villanueva 2

MACAU 46 – Lao 14, Cheong 12, Lo 10, Cai 6, Lai 4, Wong 0, Iong 0, Iong 0
Quarters: 33-14, 55-33, 83-41, 98-46

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