INCHEON, South Korea - Gilas Pilipinas beat Kazakhstan on Sunday, 67-65, but the margin of victory was not enough to get the team to the semifinals of the 2014 Asian Games basketball competition.
Needing to win by 11 points or more to make the crossover semifinals under the quotient system, Gilas opened leads as big as 18 points but - just like in its three previous losses - faded in the endgame.
Kazakhstan came charging back in the fourth quarter and the two-point loss would be enough to give it the final ticket to the Final Four if host Korea beats Qatar in the day's final game.
The Philippines finished with only its second victory in five games in the Asiad - a win that for all intents and purposes felt like a loss as Gilas came tumbling out of contention for the gold medal.
In a strange ending to a match that turned into a numbers game, Marcus Douthit deliberately made a basket in their own goal in an effort to extend the match and give Gilas a chance to post the needed 11-point margin in overtime.
However, the referees refused to count the basket under the Fiba rules.
Kazakhstan, not wanting to take chances, also declined to make two free throws in the final seconds, content with loss that would give it the second finals berth in Group H in the event it ends up tied with Gilas and Qatar at 1-2 (win-loss) at the end of the quarterfinal phase.
The bitter collapse against Kazakhstan was a fitting ending to a chaotic campaign by Gilas, which came into the tournament on a high after a respectable performance in the Fiba World Cup in Spain.
But the Filipinos blew big leads against Asian giants Iran and South Korea and lost to Qatar in a match that saw Gilas coach Chot Reyes rip into Marcus Douthit, accusing the naturalized player of 'quitting' on the team.
Back after his benching for 'disciplinary reasons' in the Korea game, Douthit looked like a man on a mission as he scored 18 points and led Gilas to as much as an 18-point spread in the third quarter.
But it was the same, old story for Gilas.
The Filipinos still led 65-61 with five minutes to go but allowed the aggressive Kazakhs to trim the deficit down to what it was at game's end.
The scores:
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