Philippines, Qatar try to salvage win in 4th window

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
BOTH fell in their respective matches in the opener of the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Sept. 13, the Philippines and Qatar look to bounce back and salvage a win when they collide today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Philippines and Qatar lost to Group F leaders Iran and Australia, respectively, with the Filipinos bowing to the Iranians, 81-73, in Tehran while the Qataris were routed by the Aussies, 95-43, in Doha.
They now face in a closed-door match at the Big Dome set for 7:30 p.m. where they hope to book a win before the qualifiers take another break and pad their push for a spot in the FIBA World Cup in China in 2019.
Said match is to be played closed-door as part of the sanctions meted by world basketball governing body FIBA on the Philippines after the brawl that happened on July 2 in the third window with Australia in Bulacan.
Against Iran, the Philippine Basketball Association-backed Team Pilipinas stood toe-to-toe with the hosts but lost steam late in the game to bow to its second straight game in the qualifiers.
Iran opted not to play big man Hamed Haddadi for much of the contest, but it still proved itself a handful for the Philippine team, anchoring its attack on its size advantage and timely shooting from the outside.
Christian Standhardinger tried to tow the Philippines to the victory, finishing with 30 points and 12 rebounds, but after him no other Filipino player scored in double digits.
Alex Cabagnot finished with nine points and five assists with Beau Belga adding seven points, Paul Lee six and Scottie Thompson five.
“We just did not hit our shots. We normally make open shots. Haddadi did not play much, it could have been our chance to beat them,” said Team Pilipinas coach Yeng Guiao postgame, summing things up for his team against Iran.
For the game against Qatar, Mr. Guiao is expected to work with the pool of players he brought to Iran with Japeth Aguilar, Stanley Pringle, and Matthew Wright seen to play this time around.
Messrs. Aguilar and Wright sat out the Iran game as they served their one-game FIBA suspension for their role in the brawl with Australia while Mr. Pringle was shelved as the naturalized player in favor of Mr. Standhardinger.
Qatar, meanwhile, just could not get its game going against Australia, trailing the latter from wire-to-wire, to the disappointment of its supporters who trekked to the Al-Gharafa Sports Club Multipurpose Hall to watch the home team play.
The struggles of the Qataris were made evident in the third period where they only managed to score three points to Australia’s 30, which all but doomed their chances in the game.
Tanguy Alban H Ngombo led Qatar with 14 points, followed by Khaled Mohamed Abdelbaset with seven.
As things stand in the merged Group F in the second round of the tournament, Iran and Australia continue to head the pack with identical 6-1 records with the Philippines at third place with a 4-3 card.
Japan and Kazakhstan are next at 3-4 and Qatar at the bottom at 2-5.
The top three teams at the end of the second round advance to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
The Philippines-Qatar game will be shown live over ESPN5 and live stream via espn5.com.