The Philippines exacted revenge against Lebanon last night when it hammered out an exciting 88-83 triumph at the start of the Four-Nation Manila Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Arena in San Juan.
Slowly but surely adapting to the international brand of play, the Nationals proved too hot too handle from beyond the arc, where they made 15 out of 32 shots that eventually spelled the difference in the victory.
And no one was hotter than Renren Ritualo, who bailed out the Filipinos just as Lebanon was also starting to spew fire from the three-point area in the final period.
Ritualo engaged the Lebanese big men in a shootout midway in the final period, keeping Chot Reyes’ crew afloat as Lebanon came back from a 15-point halftime deficit.
The four-nation event is the final tournament for the Filipinos, before they vie for an Olympic berth in the Fiba-Asia Championships in Tokushima, Japan later this month.
There were shades of the Filipinos last-second defeat to Lebanon last week in the Jones Cup in Taipei when the RP cagers started to struggle and the visitors took a 71-68 lead.
But Ritualo, Jimmy Alapag, Gabe Norwood and Kelly Williams conspired for a 16-8 burst to avenge the 68-65 loss to the second-ranked team in Asia.
Ritualo canned three straight triples, the last of which tied the count at 77, and Norwood made another trey from the right flank after a defensive stop with less than three minutes left.
Playing just 18 minutes, Ritualo picked up 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from rainbow territory, earning him player of the game honors.
Except for some forced shots near the end, Alapag was splendid in the backcourt, finishing with 14 points, including four foul shots that sealed the Lebanese’ fate. The Talk N’ Text point guard also dished seven assists.
Williams made a strong case for his inclusion in the RP Team for the Tokushima joust, plucking a crucial offensive rebound and scoring on a putback with 1:26 left, part of his 13 point, 9-rebound output.
Negrense James Yap, one of the alternates in the RP Team, missed the game due to an ankle injury he sustained during RP’s final Jones Cup game against Kazakhstan. But his performance in the Philippines’ Taipei stint, where he keyed the win against Iran, has increased his chances of making the team.
The Philippines’ next assignment will be China, a 98-94 winner over Syria in the first game yesterday.
The RP-China tussle is scheduled at 4 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum, shortly before the PBA Annual Awards and Game Four of the PBA Finals between Alaska and Talk N’ Text, which is leading 2-1. *
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