When not everything was falling into place, Team Philippines used the weapon it has always had: heart.
The Filipinos last night overhauled a 13-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and pounded out an 88-84 decision of Japan to keep a piece of the lead in the 34th Jones Cup basketball tournament at the Taipei Physical Education College gym here.
Marcus Douthit was as offensive-minded as he could be, shooting 26 points that went with 15 rebounds while Gabe Norwood was spectacular for the second straight night for the Filipinos, who rose to 4-0 like defending champion Iran.
The Iranians hacked out a 97-89 double overtime victory over the United States, unmasking the Americans, who played their first three games with a cloak of invincibility.
The United States, though, blasted organizers and game officials immediately after the game after claiming to have gotten ‘double standard’ treatment.
“We talked about it before that game that we want to play a solid 40 minutes,” coach Chot Reyes said. “But we couldn’t do it. We had a bad second period. In the end we were able to catch a big run, which was fueled by our defense.
“We gave up 47 points in the first half and that was way too much,” he continued. “Tonight wasn’t pretty at all, but in the end, our heart, more than anything, is what carries us through.”
It was the second highwire act for the Filipinos, counting an 82-79 decision of solid Korea on Tuesday, and Reyes was quick to admit that the game against the Japanese wouldn’t have come down to the wire if not for his own doing.
“When teams make runs on us and erect big margins, they’re basically my fault,” he said. “That’s why we’re here and the only way they’ll learn to play together is if they play together.
“I needed to try some weird combinations out there.” A five that didn’t have Douthit to start the second period almost did the Philippines in, as the Japanese, starring a heady guard in Hironori Watanabe and 7-foot marvel Kosuke Takeuchi, made the most of the opportunity to erect an 11-point lead at the half.
The Philippines was held to just four points in the first seven minutes of the second period, and it spent the rest of the game trying to put a dent to that.
But the Japanese, already with the confidence, even padded that and took a 71-58 lead into the fourth.
Norwood and Douthit then worked their butts out on both ends and Jeff Chan and Gary David contributed in the stretch, with Chan issuing his only assist of the night to Douthit for a two-handed dunk and an 84-81 lead with 1:36 left.
The Philippine defense actually gave up just a triple inside the final 3:11 and David, Douthit and Norwood were at the firing end.
Meanwhile, the Americans bungled a five-point lead with under 30 seconds left in the first overtime and simply did not have the gas to contend with the Iranians in the second extra session.
But Team USA created a howl when they blasted the tournament in the press room later on, with team CEO Jerone Dodd accusing the hosts of ‘double standard’ treatment.
The Americans were contesting that the short stab of Farid Aslani did not beat the buzzer, and that referees and table officials were intimidated by Iranian officials who were harassing them during review of the game tape.
“We didn’t travel halfway around the world to get treated like this,” Todd told reporters. “It was double standard treatment out there and we despise it.” Travis McAvene, the US coach, asked why they were prevented from coming over.
“It was a clear case of them being intimidated (by the Iranians),” McAvene said.
