Gilas nails No 2 vs scrappy Taiwan
Gilas Pilipinas held off Chinese-Taipei last night, 90-83, and looked forward to an even tougher challenge when the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers resumes in February.
Gilas, which beat Japan in Tokyo last Friday, is bound to meet powerhouse Australia on Feb. 22 in another away game.
It’s the type of match that should keep the Filipinos on their toes and give head coach Chot Reyes and his staff sleepless nights.
The Philippines will host Japan on Feb. 25, then will face the Taiwanese in Taipei on June 29. The Australians will visit the Philippines on July 2 for what should be the most crucial match for Gilas of this qualifying event.
It’s a long, arduous journey for Gilas as it hopes to qualify to the World Cup in 2019.
“Obviously we’re happy despite playing nowhere our 100 percent. Even in practice we couldn’t hit our free throws and it showed in the game,” said Reyes.
Gilas missed eight of 28 free throws, with Calvin Abueva missing three charities in one trip to the stripe.
Even from the outside, Gilas didn’t do well, going 6-of-22. But the hosts made the shots when the game was tight, four of them during a fourth-quarter breakaway.
Andray Blatche struggled all game, forced to a number of turnovers and finished with just six markers.
Australia, the fiery Gilas coach said, is a very tall order and added that the victories over Japan and Taiwan are not enough to give them the confidence against Australia.
“Nothing much. It’s two, three months from now,” he said, referring to the second window, particularly the game against the Australians, ranked inside the top 10 in the world.
Matthew Wright had three triples while Roger Pogoy had one. Jason Castro, who had a rare four-point play in the second quarter, completed a three-point play in the fourth that helped Gilas pull away, 82-74, inside three minutes left.
The crowd was in the game all night, chanting “Defense!” when the Taiwanese were on the attack.
The team’s biggest patron, Manny V. Pangilinan, watched from ringside, cheering the team alongside top officials from Malacañang. On the other side of the court, a group of Filipino congressmen rallied behind the team.
“Our offense in the first quarter was well. But Quincy Davis got into foul trouble,” said Taiwanese coach ChunSan Chou.
Davis, a naturalized player for Taipei, picked up two fouls midway in the opening quarter, another one in the third and two in the fourth.
The Gilas crowd, which filled half the stadium, egged on the Philippine team in the first quarter with a chant that was rehearsed before the start of the game.
June Mar Fajardo was fielded in and brought life into the game, scoring seven points in helping Gilas fought back from 2-12 down to within, 15-19.
But the Filipinos seized control at the half, 44-42, and the visitors found their mark from the outside, nailing four three-pointers that kept them alive in the third quarter.
It was Castro and Fajardo who carried the fight for the locals. Abueva was fouled from 30 feet and was awarded three free throws with just a fraction of a second left in the third period.
Abueva missed all three shots, and Gilas took a shaky 65-64 lead into the fourth.