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[av_heading heading=’Gilas rallies against Chinese Taipei, 90-83 ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Tuesday, November 28, 2017
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MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas turned to its local crew to score a come-from-behind 90-83 victory against Chinese Taipei in the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifier last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With naturalized center Andray Blatche struggling offensively, Jayson Castro, June Mar Fajardo, Matthew Wright, and Roger Pogoy carried the cudgels for Gilas’ second win in the qualifier.
Castro led with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists. Fajardo chipped in with 17 markers while Wright and Pogoy contributed 11 points apiece.
Blatche had another subpar scoring with just 6 points but managed to contribute on the defensive end with 14 rebounds and five blocks, two coming in the crucial stretch of the fourth quarter.
Gilas had a slow start and was down by as much as 5-19 before mounting a huge fight-back behind Fajardo, Calvin Abueva and Kiefer Ravena to snatch a 44-42 halftime lead.
The Philippines went up by as much as 7 points in the third quarter 58-51 on hits by Castro and Fajardo but Chinese Taipei, relying on outside shots, came close at 64-65 heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, Gilas started strong on back-to-back triples by Wright and inside hits by Castro for a 73-66 lead. Chinese Taipei made its last push, coming to within 72-73, midway in the quarter.
The Philippines countered with a finishing run on a 3-point play by Castro and back-to-back triples from Wright and Pogoy to build its largest lead of the match 86-76.
Naturalized center Quincy Davis III led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Yi-Hsiang Chou and Jhen Huang had 17 and 16 points, respectively, for Chinese-Taipei, which dropped to 0-2.
Gilas Pilipinas will plunge back to action against Australia on Feb. 22 and will host Japan on Feb. 25 next year./PN
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