MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas recovered from a slow start to score a 93-71 victory over Chinese Taipei in the third window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifier last night at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taipei, Taiwan.
June Mar Fajardo led the way with 22 points while Jayson Castro and Terrence Romeo had 15 and 14 points, respectively.
The victory tied Gilas (4-1 win-loss slate) with Australia on top of Group B.
Australia suffered its first defeat in the qualifier when it was upset by Japan, 78-79. Nicholas Fazekas led the way with double-double 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Japanese team.
Chinese Taipei opened the match with a 14-6 advantage on their torrid outside shooting. Gilas slowly pulled its way back behind Andray Blatche and Castro to trim the deficit to 16-19.
Chinese Taipei was still clinging to a 30-21 lead when Gilas unloaded a huge run from Romeo and Jeth Troy Rosario to tie the count at 33-all. Blatche then converted baskets from inside to snatch a 44-37 lead at the half.
Chinese Taipei had a strong start in the third to cut the deficit to 41-44 but Gilas banked on inside hits by Fajardo for a 66-52 lead. The Taiwanese went on a late run to cut the deficit to 60-68.
Gilas regained a 14-point lead in the fourth but Chinese Taipei repeatedly rallied and was able to come to as close as 11 points.
Baskets from Fajardo stretched Gilas its largest lead at 93-71 on a layup by Jiovani Jalalon.
Quincy Davis III finished with 17 points while Lu Cheng Ju and Chen Ying Chun had 13 and 11 points, respectively, for Chinese Taipei, which tied Japan at third with 1-4 win-loss card.
BOX SCORE:
PHILIPPINES 93 – Fajardo 22, Castro 15, Romeo 14, Blatche 13, Norwood 8, Pogoy 8, Wright 6, Rosario 5, Jalalon 2, Abueva 0, Aguilar 0, Maliksi 0.
CHINESE TAIPEI 71 – Davis 17, Lu 13, Y. Chen 11, K. Chen 9, Yi 9, Yang 7, Teng 3, Chou 2, Creighton 0, Chiang 0, Liu 0, Su 0.
Quarterscores: 16-19, 44-37, 68-60, 93-71./PN
