For all the good that Scottie Thompson did in the game, all that will be remembered is his and Gilas Pilipinas’ late game collapse against Iran.
When Marcio Lassiter fouled out, Thompson’s number was called up. In the first 30 minutes of the game, he had already tallied five rebounds, two assists, and two steals with no turnover.
But the pressure of the end game might have proved too much for the 25-year-old.
With the 6-foot-1 Thompson tasked to defend him, Behnam Yakhchali, who stands at 6-foot-5, saw this as an advantage. Calling for an isolation play, he knocked down the go-ahead jumper just 11 seconds into the shot clock.
Then disaster struck.
A Troy Rosario miss from downtown led to a breakaway layup for Mohammad Jamshidi. Downcast, Thompson threw a lazy inbound. It landed squarely in the hands of Mohammad Hassanzadeh.
Gilas dropped another home game, 70-78 – their fourth loss in their last five games. They fell to an alarming 5-5 record in the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
“Dami naming lapses sa dulo. Talagang wala din ako masabi. Yun nga nag-turnover din ako sa dulo so I don’t know,” expressed a downcast Thompson.
“Talagang masakit para sa amin, sa hometown natin.”
Though he did a lot of good before that – including a highlight pass to June Mar Fajardo with 2:09 left in the third canto – it all went for naught.
Though he has already played four games in the Qualifiers, Thompson is charging this one to experience.
“For me, i-charge ko yun sa experience as a player and at the same time I’m excited to get better para sa team and for my personal career.”
