Cebuano Dondon Hontiveros shoots over the Japanese defense in the Fiba Asia Men’s Championship in China.
fiba.com
Much as he has done all his career, the “Cebuano Hotshot” Dondon Hontiveros came up one huge three-pointer after another to help push the Gilas Pilipinas to the final of the 2015 Fiba Asia Men’s Championship with a hard-earned 81-70 victory over Japan in their semifinal matchup late Friday night at the CWSC Gym in Changsha, China.
The 37-year old veteran and the pride of the University of Cebu shot in a whopping six three-pointers, including a dagger one in transition that put the Philippines ahead 77-68 with 1:22 to go. He finished with 18 points.
The national team’s dynamic duo of naturalized player Andray Blatche and “The Blur” Jayson Castro were also up to task as the former had 22 points and 13 rebounds while the former added 20 points and seven assists to lead them to their second straight finals appearance in this prestigious tournament.
Though he only had eight points, sweet-shooting big man Ranidel de Ocampo had six – a booming triple and three freethrows – in the fourth that got the Gilas’ breakaway going.
The Gilas are now just a win away from booking a spot in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
CHINA OVER IRAN
But the task that lies before the Gilas Pilipinas is a daunting one as they take on hosts and perennial Asian powerhouse China for the gold medal and more importantly, the right to go to the Rio Olympics.
The Chinese ousted the reigning titleholder Iran, 70-57, in the other semis pairing behind a balanced scoring attack led by former NBA player Yi Jianlian, who scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots on top of playing aggressive defense against his Iranian counterpart Hamed Hadadi.
Zhou Peng added 12 points and three steals while Ding Yanyuhang chipped in 10 points and five boards.
The Chinese were in control from start to finish as they led, 19-12, after the first and extended it to 39-29 at halftime.
China continued to push the tempo and led by 14 in a third period surge that saw Jianlian throw down a poster-worthy dunk on Hadadi in one transition sequence.
Iran tried to rally in the fourth as they sliced a 16-point deficit into half but the comeback withered as they just could not find the mark from beyond the three-point arc. In all, the Iranians shot a dismal 2-of-16 from rainbow country.