Team Gilas torments Taipei B

Games today 11 a.m. – Taipei B vs Iraq 1 p.m. – Japan vs Philippines 3 p.m. – India vs Iran 5 p.m. – South Korea vs Lithuania 7 p.m. – Canada vs Taipei A

TAIPEI – Gilas Pilipinas broke the hearts of the home fans for the second straight day here, completing a sweep of the two host teams with a 93-82 conquest of the young but gritty Taipei B in the 2017 Jones Cup at the Taipei Peace Basketball Gymnasium last night.

Dragged into a see-sawing battle in the first 34 minutes, the Nationals leaned on Matthew Wright, Jio Jalalon, RR Pogoy and Kiefer Ravena’s clutch shots to open double-digit spreads before eventually holding off the Taipei squad set to play in the coming Universiade.

“Going to the Jones Cup, I always fear playing Taipei B because they play with a lot of energy. They come in and they have nothing to lose. I told the guys come out with maximum effort because the other team will do,” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes.

“At the half, I told the guys now you believe me we can’t take this team lightly. Now you know how serious this team is,” Reyes added.

Cutting down on errors when they needed to in the crunch helped Gilas pull off a follow-up to their 88-72 drubbing of Taipei A the previous night.

With the back-to-back wins, Gilas stayed in a tie at second with Lithuania and Iraq at 2-1 behind first-day tormentor Canada (3-0).

Wright continued to showcase his shooting prowess, firing away 5-of-9 three-pointers for a gamehigh total of 21 points. The Phoenix Petroleum rookie gunner was 6-of-8 from beyond the arc in their first two games.

Pogoy, Ravena and Jalalon also provided hustle and firepower to help Gilas get past the Kyle Baronereinforced Taipei side that kept the game close until the Filipinos took an 88-77 lead on a decisive 11-2 run entering the last two minutes of the contest.