The Philippines went scoreless in the final two minutes to allowe China to escape with a 77-74 decision last night for the Chinese' second win in the 4-Nation Manila Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

RP playmaker Jimmy Alapag missed two potential game-tying free throws with eight seconds left, paving the way for the tall and quick Chinese squad to complete the come-from-behind victory that followed up its 88-84 win over Syria Thursday night. Despite the loss, RP coach Chot Reyes remained upbeat.

"I'm very happy with the result. It's just a matter of us being not ready to win yet. It should have been our first time to win against China and we were not mentally prepared," Reyes said.

"China has this myth but we showed we can play, we can stay with this team," said Reyes, who was trying to steer an RP Team to its first win against the Chinese since the 1985 ABC tournament in Malaysia.

Trailing 52-62 entering the fourth period, the Chinese turned up the pressure behind Bo Wang's hot shooting, which allowed them to close in at 68-70 with 4 minutes left. While Wang was flicking treys at will, the Filipinos countered with Mark Caguioa, who posted 8 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth period.

Caguioa came away with two three-point plays using his patented hook shot that pushed the Philippines ahead, 70-65. After a lay-up by Yi, the Ginebra guard made another off-balanced shot to keep China at bay, 74-70.

Wang, however, responded with a triple, 1:24 left, to slice the lead to a single point.

But the Nationals eventually failed to find enough firepower down the stretch and after reed-thin Yi Li scored on a lay-up with 55 seconds left, RP was unable to make their two possessions count.

China could do no better on the other end but Asi Taulava fouled Qiang Bian, who calmly sank the two foul shots to peg the final count.

"We were lucky to win," said China coach Adiljian through an interpreter.

Tightening its interior defense and behind the offense of Caguioa, Gabe Norwood and Dondon Hontiveros, the Filipinos smashed a 37-all tie and outscored the Chinese team, 25-15, in the third quarter.

But their efforts went down the drain when they failed to execute in the end-game, the same scenario when they lost to Lebanon and Japan during the Jones Cup in Taipei last week.

The Philippines has actually played 11 games in just 12 days.

Nevertheless, Reyes said the game against China has given his team confidence that it is capable of beating the likes of China, Jordan and Iran in the Fiba-Asia Championships in Tokushima, Japan from July 28-Aug. 5.

"Now, we know there is a chance to beat those teams. With the strides the team is making, we can beat those teams. With everybody in, everybody playing well as we hope they would, we'll get that chance," Reyes said.

The Nationals also went 2-of-22 from beyond the arc as they failed to follow up on their 88-83 win over Lebanon at the start of the four-nation tourney last Thursday.

Yi and Wang came off the bench to score 17 and 15 points, respectively. Meanwhile, the Lebanese bounced back with a 95-60 shellacking of Syria earlier yesterday.*CPT

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