THE Gilas Pilipinas managed to end its two-game skid in the quarterfinal round after picking up a victory over Kazakhstan, 67-65, but was eliminated from contention in the next round in the ongoing quarterfinal round of the 2014 Asian Games held at the Hwaseong Sports Gymnasium in Incheon, South Korea yesterday afternoon.
As the Philippine national men's basketball team needed at least 11 points to advance to the next round, the Gilas Pilipinas squad only managed to end with a two-point lead over their opponents when the final buzzer sounded, resulting in a lower quotient total than Qatar and Kazakhstan.
Naturalized center Marcus Douthit, who got a did-not-play (DNP) decision from Gilas Coach Vincent "Chot" Reyes in its previous game against South Korea, played with a more inspired basketball as he topscored with 18 points while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds.
Jimmy "The Mighty Mouse" Alapag, playing in his final international tournament, chipped in with 11 points while teammates Lewis Alfred "LA" Tenorio and Gary David added eight and seven points, respectively.
Gilas Pilipinas surrendered an 18-point lead to the Kazakhs who rallied back into the game by piling points from the three-points zone and free throw attempts.
Gilas Pilipinas once held a 65-54 lead heading into the crucial minutes of the fourth quarter before Kazakhstan managed to cut the lead to a single digit courtesy of a jumper from a Kazakhstan player.
Douthit, however, answered back with a basket conversion at the other end, extending the lead back to 11 points, 67-56, with barely two minutes left in the fourth period.
Kazakhstan, however, held the Gilas Pilipinas squad scoreless for the rest of the way and crawled back into the game through the crucial free throws, 67-65.
Gilas Pilipinas center Douthit tried to dunk the ball into Kazakhstan's ring in a possible attempt for overtime but the referees refused to count the basket.
Kazakhstan then missed its last two free throws for them to secure the victory and a possible slot for the semis.