TAIPEI—LA
Tenorio, the 5-foot-8 Smart Gilas-Pilipinas starting point guard, certainly
cannot compare with the greatest basketball player who has ever lived.
“The
heart never gets tired,” Tenorio echoed a famous Jordan quote after shooting 11
of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Filipinos to a
heart-stopping 76-75 conquest of the Americans at the packed Taipei Physical
Education College gym here.
The win
gave the Filipinos a tournament-best 7-1 card and the country’s first title in
one of Asia’s most popular events since 1998, when the Centennial team handled
by Tim Cone triumphed.
“To tell
you honestly, we are already very tired,” Tenorio said after spearheading the
fight for the Philippines for the second straight game. “But I reminded myself
of what Michael Jordan said.
“Luckily,
my shots in the fourth quarter fell in,” said Tenorio, who on Saturday against
Taiwan-A also scored all of his 11 points in the fourth quarter of a 76-72
victory.
The
Filipinos trailed by 14 in the second period and by 13 near the end of the
third, before letting it all hang out in the payoff frame that disconcerted
even the finest basketball-playing country in the world.
And that
was exactly the motivation used by coach Chot Reyes to fire up his weary
charges, who were playing together only a month.
“Before
the game, I told them (players): ‘Imagine the Philippines playing the USA for a
gold in a basketball game,” Reyes told international media. “To play them for a
gold medal, I don’t think that will happen again in our lives.
“I asked
them to take advantage of the opportunity, and they played their hearts out.”
The
Philippines actually won its fourth Jones Cup, counting the 1985 edition and
the 1981 event with a team led by Ricardo Brown and also coached by the great
Ron Jacobs.
“I am
kind of at a loss for words,” American coach Travis McAvene said. “My guys played
their hearts out. The only thing we didn’t do was get one more stop in the last
30 seconds.
“Give
the Philippines credit. They came back and made shots,“ McAvene added. “That’s
what basketball is all about.”
It was
clear at the start that the Americans were the favorites. Even the capacity
crowd, made up mostly of Taiwanese fans waiting for their national team for the
next game, were rooting against their Asian neighbor Filipinos.
But the
Filipinos persevered, munching away at a 44-57 third-quarter deficit by using
the outside shot as a lethal weapon to finally get in the groove and open up
the inside somewhat.
A triple
by Jeff Chan and a layup by Tenorio to end the third put the Philippines within
range, 51-59, before Tenorio hit seven points in a 10-0 run opening the fourth
that had the Filipinos surging ahead, 61-59.
By that
time, the Filipinos’ confidence was way up.
But the
night belonged to Tenorio, who earlier struggled against bigger guards in the
tournament.
The
Americans were in the lead for the last time at 75-74 after a Jermaine Dearman
short stab with 36.1 seconds to go, but Tenorio gave the lead back to the
Philippines to stay with a jumper.
Michal
Kearse, a burly shooting guard, then drove into the heart of the Philippine defense
only to miss a short jumper off the glass.
Then
Tenorio, who is even smaller than the spectacular James Justice of the US,
soared above giants to snare the defensive rebound with eight seconds left that
eventually sent Chan to the line in the final 1.9.
Chan
missed the first and intentionally missed the second.
SMART
GILAS-PH 76—Tenorio 20, Chan 18, Douthit 17, Fonacier 9, Norwood 5, David 5, De
Ocampo 2, Thoss 0, Mercado 0.
UNITED
STATES 75—Arnold 17, Justice 17, Marshall 14, Barnes 13, Dearman 10, Vandermeer
2, Reese 0, Williams 0.
Quarters:
12-13, 23-34, 51-59, 76-75
Source: Philippine
Daily Inquirer
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