Smart Gilas Pilipinas smothers Lebanese club Anibal Zahle

(Phil Star) Smart Gilas Pilipinas leaned on its defense to fuel its attack in the fourth quarter as it turned back a tough Anibal Zahle of Lebanon, 70-57, at the start of the 22nd Dubai Invitational basketball tournament at the Al Ahli Club gym yesterday.

Naturalization candidate Marcus Douthit put on a double-double performance of 16 points and 18 rebounds while coming up with four blocks and a couple of steals in the final period that led to a number of fastbreak plays for the Nationals, who led by just a point, 48-47, after the third period before breaking loose.

JV Casio, who bagged the best guard honors last year, and Mac Baracael each fired 10 points while team skipper Chris Tiu and Mark Barroca combined for 14 points for the Nationals.

Marcio Lassiter and Aldrech Ramos contributed nine and eight points, respectively, to underscore Smart Gilas’ balanced offensive sock. But it was the Nationals’ tough defense on Anibal Zahle’s American imports Tiras Wade and Terrence Shannon that stymied the Lebanese offense and keyed the Philippines’ opening day victory.

“Anibal played with three imports but we defended well,” said Smart Gilas team manager Frankie Lim. “It was a struggle offensively in the first three quarters but we came through in the fourth quarter and that proved enough.”

Tiu sparked Smart Gilas’ fiery windup with a triple to the delight of the big Filipino crowd.

“Our countrymen were really very supportive, it really helped us in many ways,” said Lim.

Smart Gilas shoots for win No. 2 against Al Etihad of Egypt today with the Nationals taking a break on Sunday before resuming their campaign against Sharjah Club of UAE on Monday and Al Wahda of Syria on Tuesday.

The other bracket is composed of Lebanese club teams Sagesse and Hoop and the UAE national squad.