Gilas Pilipinas' shooting woes continued in the second round of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
The Filipinos only shot 3-for-32 from beyond the arc but they banked on their strong second-half defense to secure a 92-81 victory over Qatar Monday in a closed-door match at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Philippines against Iran last Thursday also struggled to convert from downtown, going 5-for-27 in a 81-73 loss in Tehran.
The poor shooting against Iran prompted coach Yeng Guiao to put a higher premium on outside shooting when he assembled the roster against Qatar. He made sure to incorporate Matthew Wright, returning from a one-game suspension along with Japeth Aguilar, to beef up his options that already included Marcio Lassiter, Alex Cabagnot, Stanley Pringle, and Paul Lee.
It did not work.
"To think these were the best shooters in the country, so that's really an aberration," Guiao said. "It's like a hangover from the Iran game, our cold 3-point shooting continued. We scouted them (Qatar), we know some of them can shoot the three, but we did not expect them to shoot 54 percent."
Guiao admitted the huge disparity in shooting percentages caught the team off guard.
"We had some defensive schemes lined up but we felt discouraged because they kept on hitting their threes. That kind of puts you off balance," he said.
Gilas refused to panic despite facing a 52-39 deficit at the break. They came out of the locker room with renewed energy on the defensive end, ready to disrupt Qatar's offensive rhythm.
"I told them at halftime to take the normal shots they were taking, don't mind the percentages. Just be focused on running the sets, executing the game plan," said Guiao. "I think the big difference was these guys really wanted to win, and they showed that by the kind of defense that they played."
The Philippines knew that playing strong defense would help the team weather the storm until the law of averages caught up with Qatar. In the end, it was the players' collective defensive intensity that bailed them out.
"Everybody was just pushing hard on defense and everybody felt that," said Guiao on Gilas' comeback. "Anybody who comes off the bench and will not put out the same effort will feel ashamed of himself because he sees that all his teammates are working hard."
"That's really the mental perspective of everybody, that I have to play for my teammate and I have to play for my country. I cannot put out 99 percent, I have to put out more than a hundred percent. It's really pure effort on defense in the second half."
With this much-needed win, the Philippines preserved its third-place spot in Group F with a 5-3 card ahead of Japan (4-4), Kazakhstan (3-5), and Qatar (2-6). Australia (7-1) and Iran (6-2) remained in the top two of the standings heading into the next window.