Smart Gilas Pilipinas bowed to Jordan, 76-72, as it suffered its first loss in the Jones Cup basketball tournament at the Hsinjhuang Stadium in New Taipei City Monday.

A spate of bad breaks, bad calls and the bad play of naturalized center Marcus Douthit doomed the Nationals in the end, failing to keep their unbeaten record after breezing past Iran and host Chinese-Taipei in their first two games.

The 6-foot-11 Douthit was held to only 10 points this time, behind a 3-of-7 shooting from the field and seven rebounds. He averaged 23.5 points and 10 rebounds in the victories over the Iranians and Taiwanese.

Coach Rajko Toroman had nothing but praises for the Jordanians, whom the Nationals had beaten four times in their last five meetings.

“They are a very competitive team, they changed their strategy and they’re tough to play now," he said of their old nemesis.

But several questionable calls didn’t escape the eyes of the soft-spoken Serbian mentor.

“If he’ll be the referee again, we’ll walk out of the game. We’ll go home. This guy was killing us," said Toroman, referring to Yuen Chun-Yip, a Hong Kong national who also made some dubious calls during the Nationals’ 90-78 win over Chinese Taipei Sunday.

“The level of officiating here is something I didn’t see in my life," he added.

Still, the Nationals (2-1) made a game out of it.

A three-pointer by JV Casio in the final 2:54 of the match leveled the score for the last time at 69, before Jordan came through with five unanswered points to make it 74-69 on a lay up by Osama Daghles and a trey by Enver Soobzokov.

Smart Gilas threatened for the last time at 72-74 on another Casio three-pointer, and even had a chance to tie the game following a defensive stop by Dondon Hontiveros on Daghles at the other end.

But Marcio Lassiter turned the ball over when he was called for stepping on the sideline, an error that resulted in two free throws by Daghles – on Douthit’s fifth and last foul – to clinch the win with 14.6 seconds to play.

Jordan’s third straight win propelled it on top of the standings as Ali Jamal Zaghab topscored for 17 points, while Daghles added 16.

Mark Barroca led the Nationals with 13 points, all in the first period.

Smart Gilas faces Malaysia on Tuesday.



source: OMG -GMA News