The victory posted by the Philippine Team Smart Gilas Pilipinas will gave them a ticket to enter the semi-finals for the first time in the history of FIBA Asia Champions Cup. The team had already succeeded in surp(–foul word(s) removed–)ing their previous ranked in FIBA Asia. A sweet victory for the Filipinos after a slow start-up in a win against Syria by just 5 points 85-80
With the win the Smart Gilas will then face the two-time depending Champion Mahram of Iran for the semi-finals. The Philippine team was the only team outside from the Gulf-WABA team that entered the semi-finals. For the past few years the Champions Cup were always dominated by the teams from the Gulf countries.
During the game against the tall Syrians, Philippines had struggled for the first half. Al Jala’a of Syria had lead as many as 15 points in the first half. The Smart Gilas boys did not loose their composure and continue to do whatever is best for the team and with the help from the crowd, Smart Gilas saw a resurgence when they fired 14-6 runs in the third quarter.
Quarter scoring for both teams had always been dominated by the Syrians except for the third and fourth quarter. The teams quarter scoring were recorded at first quarter, Gilas 20 Jala’a 22, 2nd quarter 14-19, third quarter 27-16 and fourth quarter at 24-23 in favor of the Philippine team.
Philippine Team top scorers were Douthit 26 points, Casio had 22 points, Aguilar with 12, Baracael added 6, Lutz with 6, Tiu had  5, and Dondon  Hontiveros with 5 points. The Syrians were lead by veteran NBA campaigner the former Laker Samaki Walker with 25 points, added by 17 from Madanly and American import Miller with 13.
The deciding factor of the game was the foul trouble committed by the Syrians at the final stages of the game. Their big man had committed fouls due to the extra effort made by the Filipinos to har(–foul word(s) removed–)ed the much taller Syrians.
The next opponent for the undefeated Philippine Team Smart Gilas Pilipinas will be the team coached formerly by their mentor right now, Mahram of Iran. Coach Toroman had already prepared a possible counter attacked against his former team by surprising their bench one of the strength of Iran.