Philippines going great guns

TAIPEI: For a team that’s just three weeks old, there’s no denying the fact that it is already having a good Jones Cup tournament.
But knowing the competitive nature of coach Chot Reyes and his intrepid bunch of Nationals, they’re going all out to make it a great one.
The Philippines yesterday reclaimed the lead in the prestigious tournament after nipping hometown team Taipei-A, 76-72 at the Taipei Physical Education College gym here, to move within another victory of ruling the event for the third time.
And it took the tiny LA Tenorio to give the Filipinos the lift they needed, shooting all of his 11 points in a whirlwind fourth period as the Philippines won for the sixth time in seven games.
The 5-foot-8 Tenorio drained three straight triples to highlight a hot fourth quarter start for the Philippines, which raced to a 69-60 lead before holding off the game Taiwanese in the stretch.
Gary David, the cold-blooded PBA scoring champion, sealed the deal for the Philippines with a triple with under 40 seconds left, a shot the triggered a wild celebration from a small Filipino gallery made up of overseas contract workers.
Tenorio’s performance was his finest in the tournament after being driven out of his comfort zone by bigger guards from most of the opposition.
“That’s why he is in this team. There’s a reason for him being here,” Reyes said. “We’ve had a good tournament so far, and tomorrow, we need to come out hard to make it a great tournament.” The Philippines has the United States as its last opponent, with a win giving the Filipinos the title outright.
With a 5-2 record, the Americans are tied for second with the Korea and defending champion Iran, and the US can make it a possible four-way logjam for the top with a victory over the Filipinos in the 5 p.m. contest on Sunday.
The United States took a 70-67 defeat at the hands of rampaging Lebanon, which got 27 points from starting guard Elie Stephan. Stephan, a six-year member of the national team, got all of his points from the three-point area, seven of them coming in the first half.
Iran, which lost to the Philippines on Friday, tumbled yet again on Saturday, 82-73 to the Koreans to be tied at 5-2 like the Americans.
“I know every team scouts us and they come out to guard all our shooters, and today, I thought Taipei did a great job of covering our shooters,” Reyes explained.
“But in doing that, they had to give something up, and that was (leaving) LA (open),” added Reyes.
Tsung Hsien-chang, a swingman with a basketball scholarship for a US NCAA school, fired 16 points, but missed a free throw with 2:39 which would have tied it all up at 69, before the Philippines snapped a long drought to regain control.