Barea breaks our hearts as Puerto Rico ousts Gilas

That’s why he’s an NBA champion. JJ Barea detonated in late in the fourth quarter to lift Puerto Rico to a 77-73 win over Gilas Pilipinas.

For the fourth straight game, Gilas Pilipinas gave their all on the court. For the fourth straight game, they came up painfully short.

With Gilas leading 70-67, Barea went on an 8-0 run on his own to give Puerto Rico a 75-70 advantage. Jimmy Alapag ended the drought with three free throws but there were only 4.5 seconds left in the game.

Two free throws from Ricky Sanchez guaranteed Puerto Rico’s win and sealed the fate of Gilas. The Philippines no longer has a chance to make it to the round of 16 but they could still salvage from pride against Senegal Thursday.

Barea led Puerto Rico with 30 points in the game. Ricky Sanchez and David Huertas added 13 points each.

Blatche led the Philippines with 25 points and 14 rebounds but he committed a crucial turnover that led to Barea scoring the go-ahead basket for Puerto Rico.

LA Tenorio and Paul Lee had their best games of the tournament scoring 18 and 10 points, respectively, but Gilas had limited contribution from their bigs.

Puerto Rico started the game with two triples for an early 6-0 lead but LA Tenorio got one back immediately.

Down 13-9, Gilas went on a 12-0 run thanks to the scoring of Andray Blacthe and the offensive rebounding of Marc Pingris. This forced Puerto Rico to call a timeout at the 2:16 mark of the first with the Philippines leading 21-13.

Tenorio and Gabe Norwood got two more baskets at the tail end of the first quarter to give Gilas a 24-13 lead after the first 10 minutes.

Paul Lee made two free throws to extend the Gilas run to 18-0 but Barea finally scored on two free throws on the next play.

Gilas head coach Chot Reyes then subbed out Blatche for June Mar Fajardo, and Puerto Rico slowly climbed back into the game. A fastbreak layup from Alexander Galindo trimmed their deficit down to eight, 29-21.

A long triple from Barea got Puerto Rico within eight again, 40-32, but Ranidel De Ocampo gave a gorgeous pass to Blatche for a two-handed dunk and another double-digit lead for Gilas with 2:58 left in the first half.

Gilas gave up too many fouls as the second quarter closed to allow Puerto Rico to cut the lead down to five at 44-39 to end the first half.

Powered by 80% shooting from the two-point area and led by Blatche’s 15 and Tenorio’s 13 points, Gilas went into the half with a lead for the first time in four games.

After almost two scoreless minutes, Norwood finally opened the scoring for Gilas off a De Ocampo assist.

Puerto Rico then went on a 7-2 run punctuated by a fast break layup from Barea to cut Gilas’s lead down to just two points at 48-46.

Gilas then relied on free throws from their point guards as Puerto Rico fell into penalty early. A free throw from Paul Lee gave Gilas a 55-49 lead at the 3:21 mark but David Huertas replied with a triple to cut the deficit in half.

Blatche’s exit then led to another dip in the performance. They had great looks from threes but the shots refused to fall in. Puerto Rico used a 12-3 closing run to claim a 61-57 lead heading into the final quarter.

Down 64-59, De Ocampo and Baltche engineered a 5-0 blast for Gilas to tie the game with 5:25 left in the game.

After a Puerto Rico free throw, Tenorio nailed a triple to retake the lead for Gilas at 67-65. Barea tied the game again with a layup but Blatche nailed a cold-blooded triple for a 70-67 lead.

With Puerto Rico’s back against the wall, Barea tied the game with a triple and gave his side the lead 72-70 thanks largely to two Gilas turnovers. Still the Filipinos had 50 seconds to go but De Ocampo missed a triple and Norwood fouled Barea for two free throws to ultimately seal the win.

The scores

Puerto Rico 77: Barea 30, Sanchez 13, Huertas 13, Rivera 5, Galindo 5, Diaz 4, Franklin 3, Balkman 2, Clemente 2.

Philippines 73: Blatche 25, Tenorio 18, Lee 10, Alapag 6, Norwood 6, Castro 4, De Ocampo 2, Pingris 2, Aguilar 0, Chan 0, Fajardo 0.