29 June 2018
By Maxine Louise Lagman
Gilas Pilipinas won over Chinese Taipei, 93-71, in the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Friday at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
Chinese Taipei overpowered Gilas in the start, leaning on the hot shooting of Yang Chin-Min, Cheng Ying-Chun and Quincy Davis to establish a 12-4 lead. The Philippine team answered back with a 7-2 run, but failed to secure the first quarter of the match, 19-16 in favor of Chinese Taipei.
Cheng-Ju Lu triple extends Chinese Taipei’s lead to nine with 7:21 left in the second period. But June Mar Fajardo and Terrence Romeo answered with a 12-3 run that led to a 33-all dreadlock.
Yi Hsiang-Chou dropped another trey for Chinese Taipei before Gilas Pilipinas exploded with an 8-0 run that gave Gilas a 41-36, 1:37 remaining in the first half.
The Philippine team took control of the game from then on, leading by as much as 13 points, 74-61, after Wright knocked down another trey. Gilas even made a comfortable cushion with an 88-71 lead in the final quarter.
MVP Fajardo led Gilas after scoring 22 points, while Jayson Castro added 15 points. Romeo had 14 points and Andre Blatche chipped in 13 points.
The Scores:
Gilas Pilipinas (93): Fajardo 22, Castro 15, Romeo 14, Blatche 13, Norwood 8, Wright 6, Rosario 5, Jalalon 2, Pogoy 0, Aguilar 0, Abueva 0, Malicsi 0
Chinese Taipei (71): Davis 17, Lu 13, Chen Y. 11, Chou Y. 9, Chen K. 9, Yang 7, Tseng 3, Chou P. 2, Liu 0, Chiang 0, Su 0, Creighton 0
Quarter scores: 16-19, 44-37, 68-60, 93-71
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