B-Meg deals Smart Gilas’ first loss

Smart Gilas' Japeth Aguilar muffs a dunk during the national squad's loss to B-Meg Derby Ace.

B-Meg deals Smart Gilas’ first loss

B-Meg Derby Ace 98 vs. Smart Gilas Pilipinas 90

by rick olivares pic by tunying p.

March 23, 2011

Araneta Coliseum

Staring at the face of elimination, the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados bucked the loss of its best player and took advantage of the departure of the rock in the middle to deal Smart Gilas Pilipinas a stinging 98-90 upset.

With James Yap out with a calf injury, the Llamados did not look a gift horse in the mouth when the Nationals’ Marcus Douthit went down with a late third quarter ankle sprain with his side in front 54-48. With Aldrech Ramos still not a hundred percent recovered from an injury, Gilas head coach Rajko Toroman went to Greg Slaughter who himself had missed the team’s last few practices. B-Meg’s Kerby Raymundo immediately went to work on Slaughter netting five points inside the lane while KG Canaleta, not particularly known for his outside touch while playing college ball at UE, hit five free throws and a triple to bring the deficit to one 64-63.

As Gilas was wont to do for much of the game, they found the necessary degree of separation with a timely bucket. Mac Baracael buried a trey to close the third and give Gilas some breathing room 67-63.

Come the fourth quarter, B-Meg’s American reinforcement, Shamari Spears, came to life when he pumped in 11 fourth quarter points all of which were against the youthful Slaughter.

With Douthit and Ramos (who made a brief cameo appearance and didn’t do much) unavailable, Slaughter, the center of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, tried to hold the fort. He scored five points including a two-handed slam over Canaleta and Roger Yap that gave Gilas an 84-81 lead but a triple by Peter June Simon and a jumper by Spears gave B-Meg a two point lead with a minute left.

B-Meg had an opportunity to pad the lead by missed shot by Raymundo was rebounded by Gilas skipper Chris Tiu who drove all the way from one end to the another while delivering a difficult reverse lay up that trickled in. Both sides missed chances to win the game in regulation but it was B-Meg that found steadier footing in the extension.

A Simon triple that opened overtime scoring gave B-Meg a lead they would not relinquish as Gilas became unglued with a series of poor shots and errors. When forward Marc Pingris scored on an undergoal shot with 16 seconds left, B-Meg had an improbable 98-90 win against the nationals who are clearly a much tougher outfit this time around (as compared to their first PBA stint that was the 2009-10 Philippine Cup).

“I feel great about the win,” said B-Meg head coach Jorge Gallent whose side must now win its remaining matches against struggling San Miguel Beer and surging Talk ‘N Text if they want to advance to the next round of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup and to keep their franchise streak of advancing past the eliminations for 11 consecutive conferences. “There was no special drive to beat Gilas. The plan was just to beat whoever is out there on the court and I think we had a good game plan. Malas din sila dahil they lost Douthit.”

By the time Douthit went out of the game, B-Meg’s big men were outrebounding Smart Gilas 47-32 with 15 of them coming off the offensive glass. And in the fourth quarter, the Llamdos’ dominance of the shaded lane was all but absolute as they grabbed 16 boards (nine offensive caroms) to the Nationals 13.

“Believe it or not, Gilas shot better than us,” added Gallent. “We just hustled for our shots and second chances. And we made more free throws.” B-Meg connected on 20 of their 25 free throw attempts while Gilas shot 60% (18-30).

Toroman on the other hand, refused to be worried about the loss of Douthit. “Some people say that we depend a lot on Douthit (who averages 21.8 points and 19.4 rebounds per game),” said the Serbian who is on his third year mentoring the team. “But as you can see, our team went without an import for almost 20 minutes and even had a chance to win.”

“Malas din kami,” said Gilas co-captain Mark Barroca who finished with seven points and was a non-factor in the game’s outcome. “Nadali kami sa error at missed shots. Sayang.”

B-Meg Derby Ace 98 – Spears 26, Simon 20, Pingris 18, Raymundo 17, Canaleta 13, Yap R. 4, Gaco 0, Fernandez 0, Escobal 0, Adducul 0

Smart Gilas 90 – Baracael 19, Tiu 16, Lassiter 14, Douthit 14, Barroca 7, Casio 6, Aguilar 6, Slaughter 5,  Lutz 3, Ababou 0, Ramos 0

Notes: B-Meg was without James Yap (strained calf), Rico Maierhofer (ACL), Jonas Villanueva (ankle), Don Allado (foot), and Rafi Reavis (hand). The match was possibly the last for B-Meg import Shamari Spears. Smart Gilas' Marcus Douthit should be back by Sunday's match against Powerade. 


Going back to the Smart Gilas beat, effendis! Watch out for some new stuff.