Jordan Ends POWERADE-RP'S Final 4 Bid

TIANJIN – Jordan repulsed repeated comeback bids by Powerade-Team Pilipinas Friday in posting an 81-70 victory and advancing to the semifinal round of the 25th FIBA-Asia Men’s Championship here.
The Jordanians thus forged a semifinal meeting -- another knockout game -- against defending champion Iran which repulsed Qatar 75-65.
With the loss to Jordan, the Nationals bowed out of contention for a coveted top three slot and a berth to the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Istanbul.
Already assured of at least eighth spot, one rung ahead of its 2007 Tokushima FIBA Asia predecessor, the RP team can aspire for as high as fifth place with two more games coming up, the first against Qatar at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
A 1991 RP squad finished seventh during the Asian Basketball Confederation Men’s Championship in Kobe, Japan, a target the Nationals can now shoot for.
All may not be lost as far as qualifying to the World Championship is concerned.
The possibility of a 10-team pool of wildcard entrants – two from each zone – disputing four slots available in Istanbul has loomed as an incentive for the teams that will finish fourth or fifth place.
If approved by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the No. 4 team after the crossover semifinals and the fifth placer could receive an invite to the wildcard matches.
The Nationals came tantalizingly close to putting the fancied Jordanians in trouble, once in the second quarter when the RP team led, 24-22, and again in the fourth period when Gabe Norwood’s back-to-back three-point shots cut a 15-point deficit to 68-63 with still six minutes left.
Each time, however, the Jordanians, displaying the maturity resulting from a lengthy period of camaraderie, came through with a torrent of 3-pointers in a brief but backbreaking spurt.
Six-foot-10 Ayman Idais did much of the damage by scoring 20 points before fouling out to backstop vaunted Rasheim Wright, stepping in and out of the spotlight but still leading his team with 21 points.
Gabe Norwood led the RP team with 11 points, his most memorable moment coming in the last quarter.
Jared Dillinger and Willie Miller each had 10 points, but Kerby Raymundo and James Yap, on whose hands rest much of the Nationals’ chances, turned up cold, combining for 3-of-16 from the floor.
Zaid Abbas grabbed 16 rebounds as Jordan won the boards, 49-38, and the war in the paint, 36 points to 20.
“Jordan is a tough one for us,” said national coach Yeng Guiao. “We just wanted to keep the game close to give us a chance to win. But we still look at this positively because they beat us by 31 points the last time we met.”
Mario Palma, Jordan’s Portuguese coach, was magnanimous in victory.
“We played against a team that played better than two years ago (in Tokushima)," Palma said.
“This is a game where we played a lot more nervous, it was very different, the pressure is big.”
In classification matches, Kazakhstan drubbed Kuwait, 76-57, while Japan, out of the quarterfinals for the first time ever, routed United Arab Emirates, 86-59.
The scores:
JORDAN 81 – Wright 21, Idais 20, Abbas Z.9, Soobzokov 9, Alkhas 6, Daghles 6, Alawadi 4, Al-Sous 4, Hadrab 2, Alnajjar 0, Almaaytah 0, Abbas I. 0.
POWERADE RP – Norwood 11, Dillinger 10, Miller 10, Pennisi 9, Baguio 9, Taulava 7, Yap 6, Raymundo 4, Thoss 2, Helterbrand 2, Aguilar 0, Santos 0.
Quarterscores: 22-17; 45-33; 67-52; 81-70.