EGYPT POUNCED on its size advantage and hot shooting hands to deal listless Gilas Pilipinas an 86-55 beatdown and complete a sweep of the Doha Invitational Cup in Qatar on early Monday (Manila time).
The Pharaohs stepped on the gas in the second quarter, 21-9, to transform an initially tight contest into a one-sided affair to the disappointment of the big Filipino crowd at the Qatar University Sports & Events Center.
The charges of coach Tim Cone couldn’t recover from this onslaught by the Egyptians, who put them in the company of Lebanon (82-70) and host Qatar (83-54) in their list of victims.
The late fightback Pinoys hoped for didn’t happen as Gilas even lost the fourth period badly, 29-10, en route to their worst loss in the four-nation meet.
Justin Brownlee delivered 18 points and five rebounds but the naturalized player hardly had help as Gilas stumbled to back-to-back losses and finished with 1-2.
Carl Tamayo, with nine markers, was the next best performer for the Philippine crew that absorbed the 31-point shackling a day after yielding to the Cedars, 75-54.
It was the opposite ending to the Nationals’ triumphant opening match against the host Qataris, which saw them overturn an 11-point deficit and snatch a 74-71 verdict.
Egypt stalwarts Ehab Amin Saleh, Amr Zahran and 7-foot-2 Omar Tarek Oraby were the biggest thorns for Gilas and fired 20, 12 and 10, respectively. The trio combined for eight of the 11 triples the Egyptians dropped on the Filipinos, who could only make four from beyond the arc.
Gilas finished the Doha meet in third spot behind the Cedars, who secured No. 2 after picking up their second W in three matches at the expense of winless Qatar, 72-69.
Though the results weren’t as favorable, the Nationals left the Qatari capital warmed up and wiser for the next part of their campaign — the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
The Pinoy dribblers were slated to be back home in Manila late last night. Then they would leave again on Tuesday for Chinese Taipei ahead of their Feb. 20 showdown in the third and final window of the Qualifiers. After the away assignment in Taiwan, the Filipinos would head over to New Zealand for their grudge match with the Tall Blacks on Sunday. — Olmin Leyba
