Gilas subdues Taiwan
Gilas Pilipinas completed a twogame sweep of the first window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers last night after displaying its best form in the fourth quarter to beat Taiwan, 90-83, before a good-sized crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Matthew Wright, Jayson Castro, and Roger Pogoy backed up June Mar Fajardo’s best game
in his national team career by knocking down big shots in the payoff period as Gilas overcame an early 14-point deficit and Taiwan’s refusal to back down to pass the first test of its bid to qualify in FIBA’s most-prestigious competition.
Wright knocked down the first three of the fourth and added two more on his way to scoring al1 of his 11 in the said quarter. Castro topscored with 20 points and Pogoy also made 11 points, including a corner three with 3:54 remaining that extended Gilas’ lead to 82-74.
Perhaps the one who woke Gilas from a 19-5 deficit in the first four minutes of the contest was Fajardo, who finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks off the bench in his most-productive game in a FIBA competition.
The reigning four-time PBA Most Valuable Player made up for committing two quick fouls and the struggles of naturalized player Andray Blatche and took advantage of Gilas’ height advantage to slowly chip away at the Taiwan lead.
“June Mar saved us,” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes. “We had that terrible start and we have a luxury to bring June Mar off the bench.”
After opening its campaign Friday with a 77-71 victory over Japan in Tokyo, Gilas gained a share of the lead with Australia in Group B of the qualifiers. The two nations meet in February in the second window of the qualifiers.
Australia rolled to its second straight victory in the group with an 82-58 thrashing of Japan in Adelaide. The FIBA Asia Cup champions came off a 104-66 beating of the Taiwanese in Taipei three days prior.
Coach Chot Reyes, however, will be hard-pressed to beat the Aussies after an inconsistent showing by Gilas in the first window.
Another major concern was the performance of Blatche, who despite grabbing 14 rebounds was held to six points on 2-of-9 shooting while committing six turnovers for the second straight game.
Taiwan’s naturalized player Quincy Davis scored 20 points, including seven straight that allowed the visiting side to take a 10-2 lead after tipoff. But he dealt with foul trouble from late in the first quarter onwards before committing his fifth late in the contest.
Yi-Hsiang Chou and Jhen Huang added 17 and 16 points, respectively, for Taiwan, which joined Japan at the bottom at 0-2.
PHILIPPINES 90 – Castro 20, Fajardo 17, Wright 11, Pogoy 11, Ravena 9, Abueva 8, Blatche 6, Norwood 5, Aguilar 3.
TAIWAN 83 – Davis 20, Chou Y. 17, Huang 16, Liu 7, Tsai 6, Lee 6, Chou P.C. 4, Chou P.H. 3, Chen 2, Chiang 2, Hu 0, Lu 0.
Quarters: 18-23; 44-42; 65-64; 90-83.