Smart Gilas pulls out another rabbit vs Powerade

Pulling out another rabbit

Smart Gilas 98 vs. Powerade 97

by rick olivares

March 27, 2011

Araneta Coliseum

Rajko Toroman watched how the Alaska Aces came back to pip Meralco in overtime sans their American reinforcement. He also heard the death knell sentences how the national team was done without his own import who previously hurt his ankle in their losing effort against B-Meg Derby Ace. “Critics say that we only win because of Marcus Douthit,” said a miffed Toroman. “If the team was prepared to play without Marcus against B-Meg then there was a chance we could have won. And we nearly did. The game against Powerade was a chance to show what we can do.”

Only his team shot a miserable 31% in the first quarter while Powerade was phenomenal on their end as they pumped in 34 points on 54% shooting. After JR Quiñahan hit a jumper over Japeth Aguilar early in the second quarter, Smart Gilas stared at a huge 21-point deficit. Yet somehow Toroman knew his team wasn’t done.

In the two and a half years the nationals have been together, they had cut their eyeteeth in staging one mother of a comeback after another and they had done some against some of the top teams in all of Asia sans their American players. “What’s one more?” chuckled forward Marcio Lassiter who seemed more worried about how cumbersome his facemask was than Powerade. “I’m sure we have more rabbits in our hat.”

But the big adjustment came at the half after Gilas whittled the lead down to 55-42. The Tigers had earlier thrown a box and one on the Nationals who without a dominant post player had to rely on their outside marksmen for the rally. If the Nationals could shift the game to another gear then it would be more to their liking. They shored up their man-zone to prevent lane incursions with one noticeable wrinkle – Aguilar was to guard David.

As play resumed, Aguilar fielded a pass by Casio as he slid in for a layup. With the Tigers guarding against another incursion, Lassiter spot up for a trey. Then Casio hit one of his own from the top of the arc.

Just like that, Gilas was back in the game 55-50. The Tigers on the other hand, predictably went to Gary David. But the league’s leading scorer for the past two conferences had his shot blocked by Aguilar as Gilas literally enforced a no-fly zone in Powerade’s side of the court. Aguilar and Al Ramos combined for five blocked shots and Gilas was off and running.

The comeback was complete when Mark Barroca scored his only four points of the match while Chris Lutz added five points to give Gilas a 76-71 lead. They had outscored Powerade 34-16 in a scorching third quarter.

After two more Lutz free throws, Gilas had its biggest lead at 80-73.

But here’s where the game entered the stuff of legend. The Tigers battled back behind David and American import Martin Zeno who topscored for his team with 28 points. The two restored the lead to Powerade 88-84. After Aguilar blew a dunk that Francis Allera parlayed into a bucket following a drop pass by Zeno, Gilas was suddenly back on their heels 91-86.

That’s when Lassiter decided to make things happen.

“I never seemed to have a good shooting game this tournament,” said the former Cal State Fullerton Titan. “But that’s not going to stop me from shooting. I just had to make sure to follow through better.”

Lassiter stroked one from the left side to make it 89-91 with 3:15 left in the game. On the Tigers’ inbound, he harassed Zeno and stole the ball for a layup to incredibly tie the match.

Powerade’s veteran center Dennis Espino used his sleight of hand to score a bucket but Ramos returned the favor on the other end for the game’s fourth and final deadlock at 93-all.

David hit a jumper and after a missed Gilas offensive, Tiu who got hurt on a hard pick by Espino rifled in a trey of his own from the left side of the arc. Zeno scored on a drive but couldn’t keep his bonus free throw down.

Gilas sued for time and one last play. Casio who had torched Powerade thus far on 9-14 shooting for 27 points, was immediately double-teamed by the Tigers. On the reset following a Zeno foul, Casio got the ball. With Mark Macapagal and Espino once more rushing out to force him to give up the ball, the wily guard split the double team right in the middle and drove hard. With former college nemesis Francis Allera in his path, the Gilas guard scooped a layup over several outstretched hands to settle into the net.

After Powerade missed two chances to win the game at the buzzer (including a heartbreaking off-balanced heave by Allera), Aguilar bounced the ball hard on the floor as Gilas celebrated in the middle of the court.

“Even when we were down by 20 points, we knew we could come back,” said Casio later in the dugout. “We’ve done this so many times that it gives us the confidence to comeback.”

Another rabbit? Lassiter, the last player to leave the Gilas dugout, just smiled.

Smart Gilas 98 – Casio 29, Lassiter 20, Lutz 11, Aguilar 10, Tiu 7, Ramos 7, Baracael 5, Slaughter 4, Barroca 4, Ballesteros 0

Powerade 97 – Zeno 28, David 23, Espino 10, Lanete 9, Quiñahan 8, Macapagal 5, Allera 4, Antonio 4, Reyes 3, Cruz 3, Anthony 0


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After Smart Gilas' loss to B-Meg, the disappointment was palpable among the players and team management. Rajko Toroman admitted to some mistakes on his part of the game. But he made known to his players that the goal wasn't to win the Commissioner's Cup but to toughen up for the coming FIBA Asia Champions Challenge Cup (this May 28-June 5 in Manila) and for the FIBA Asia this September 15-25 in Wuhan, China. 


Marcus Douthit should play in Gilas' next match this coming Wednesday vs Ginebra San Miguel. Darn will miss that.


Will Gilas be reinforced by PBA players? Yes, they will. But the number is not final. The plan is to request for their addition immediately after this conference in done.