On Sunday morning (Manila time), Qatar University Sports and Events Complex witnessed smooth sailing in the last period when Lebanon turned back and handed Gilas Pilipinas a 75-54 defeat in the 2nd Doha Invitational Cup.
Lebanon was given some distance from an equally matched contest, leading by 65-50, when it went on a dominating 14-2 run via Jad Khalil, James Majok, Gerard Hadidian, and Karim Zeinoun within the first five minutes of the final quarter of play.
Gilas had shot itself back into the game with a follow-up baskey from AJ Edu, closing the gap to 51-50. However, Lebanon launched a scoring burst thereon that broke the Filipinos’ backs. The fourth quarter ended up with Lebanon beating Gilas 24-6 en route to the lopsided win.
Among those mentioned above, Justin Brownlee continued to shine for Gilas, putting together an impressive 21 points and 11 rebounds. However, the veteran naturalized player failed to stamp his authority in the final quarter, and this was the first defeat for the team, which was facing the third match of the friendly series, to conclude Monday morning (Manila time).
Gilas had earlier beaten Qatar, coming back from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to win 74-71.
Calvin Oftana registered Gilas’ only double-digit finish with 10 points, while Scottie Thompson had 11 rips to go with his seven points.
For Lebanon, Khalil led the charge with 18 points behind 3-of-7 shooting from deep. Hadidian added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Majok and Zeinoun combined for 25 points and 16 rebounds.
Lebanon, without really many bandwagon players Wael Arakji and Omari Spellman, bounced back with a 1-1 record in the tournament after the doping opening game loss to Egypt: a game they lost 82-70.
