DESPITE an impressive debut by Jordan Clarkson for the Philippines, the Gilas Pilipinas still fell short against rival Asian nation China, 80-82, last night in Group D of the 2018 Asian Games in the GBK Basketball Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia.
China had a strong start and jumped to a 20-12 lead after a quarter of action. The Philippines fought hard and trimmed it down to just five, 31-36, led by the charge of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Clarkson.
China, led by Houston Rockets’ reserve center Zhou Qi, once again controlled the game early in the third and had a double-digit lead, 42-31, after scoring six straight points.
However, the Philippines had a 13-2 run led by Clarkson and Christian Standhardinger to tie it at 55-55 with 2:30 remaining in the third.
Clarkson scored 16 of the Philippines’ 26-point third quarter output but China went into the fourth with a slight 59-57 advantage.
China yet again had a strong start in the fourth quarter with a 66-59 lead. Stanley Pringle ended China’s run with a triple, but the Chinese answered with six straight points for a 72-62 lead with 6:20 left.
The Philippines crawled its way back up with JP Erram hitting a three-pointer to cut it down to 71-74 with 4:30 remaining.
Paul Lee hit a long bomb to tie the game at 74-74, and then Standhardinger converted both of his free throws to give the Philippines the lead, 76-74, with 3:07 left.
Zhou split his free throws but Pringle answered with a layup from an offensive rebound for a 78-75 lead.
Wang Zhelin trimmed it down to 77-78 but Pringle brought it back up 80-77 with 1:26 remaining.
Zhou hit one of two free throws but Zhao Rui made a crucial steal and drive to tie it 80-80. Clarkson and Standhardinger missed their target and Zhao once again gave China the lead after hitting both of his charities with 13 seconds left.
Lee had a chance to win it bit his long three-pointer missed its target.
Clarkson exploded for 28 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out four assists and had two steals in 32 minutes of action. Standhardinger had 18 points and eight rebounds, while Pringle and Lee had 14 and 10 respectively.
Zhou had a monster game for China with 25 points, 12 boards and seven blocks. Wang added 13, Abudushalamu Abudurexiti chipped in 12 and Zhao contributed 11.
China still has a game left against Kazakhstan. (EKA)