GILAS Pilipinas eyes payback against Jordan A for a berth in the finals of the King Abdullah Cup.
The Filipinos absorbed an 84-72 loss at the hands of the host team on the final day of the preliminary at the Prince Hamza Hall in Amman.
The loss by Gilas arranged a semis showdown with its tormentor against the winner of the other crossover pairing between Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.
Both Saudi Arabia and Jordan A finished with identical 3-1 records, but the former earned the no. 1 seed by virtue of the winner-over-the-other rule, thereby relegating the host at no. 2.
Gilas and Tunisia finished with similar records of 2-2, but the Filipinos defeated Tunisia on Thursday in overtime, 74-73, to take the no. 3 spot.
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A huge run by Jordan to open the second half propelled the host to a 52-43 lead after trailing by as many as 11 in the second quarter.
The lead eventually ballooned to 67-49.
But the Filipinos still had a lot of fight left in them and rallied back late in the game. Four straight points by Carl Tamayo had Gilas threatening at 70-63 with 4:43 to go.
Cameron Forte however, took charge for Jordan, scoring five straight points to anchor a closing 12-2 run to make it an 82-65 game.
Forte finished with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds.
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Gilas special draftee Jordan Heading was the top man for the Filipinos with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting from deep, while Tamayo and Rey Suerte added 14 and 13, respectively.
Angelo Kouame, hero in Gilas' thrilling win over Tunisia, was held to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field. He finished with six rebounds. (RG)
