Strong late rally lifts Gilas past Taipei

Photo from Eagle News What was expected to be a close match turned into a rout as Gilas Pilipinas caught fire down the stretch to essay a masterful 93-71 conquest of Chinese Taipei in the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifier last night at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taipei City.

June Mar Fajardo masterminded that late-game carnage while Jason Castro, Terrence Romeo and Andray Blatche made their presence felt for the Filipinos, who are looking to post a massive win that would give them confidence in entering a crucial match with Australia.

Things got even more interesting when the Boomers succumbed to Japan, 79-78, in the other Group B encounter, making their collision at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan on Monday highly crucial for both sides.

Both the Philippines and Australia have a 4-1 win-loss card and what team will emerge victorious will take a superior record in the next round where they will join Group D qualifiers Iran, Qatar and Kazakhstan.

Fajardo delivered 22 points in an efficient 75 percent shooting clip while Castro and Blatche chipped in 15 and 13 points, respectively, for the Nationals who uncorked a blistering 25-11 blast in the final canto en route to victory.

Romeo, who missed the previous window due to injury, was also impressive as he tallied 14 points laced with six assists and a steal.

“Well, I think it was due to some good preparation,” said Gilas head coach Chot Reyes who didn’t have a practice with a full roster until the final stretch of their preparation.

“Coming into this game, we knew Chinese Taipei would start strong. So we just stayed with our game plan and our second unit played well,” Reyes said.

The rust in the Filipinos’ guns was in full display in the first half.

Save for Jason Castro, the starting unit of Blatche, Japeth Aguilar, Gabe Norwood and Wright were firing blanks, allowing the Taiwanese to erect an early 12-4 advantage off the red-hot shooting of Chin-Ming Yang and imposing presence of Quincy Davis underneath.

Castro continued wreaking havoc while RR Pogoy and Blatche joined the fray to pull the visiting squad to within one, 16-17, off a short stab by the former NBA standout.

Taipei closed the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup from Po-Chen Chou before extending its run with back-to-back treys from Cheng-Ju Lu for a 25-18 edge in the opening minute of the second canto.

Then, Gilas started to play like Gilas again.

Rosario waxed hot and put the Filipinos to within two, 31-33, before Yi-Hsiang Chou uncorked another triple to give the Taiwanese a three-point cushion, 36-33.

A basket by Blatche followed by another layup gave Gilas Pilipinas the driver’s seat, 37-36, en route to a 44-37 edge at halftime.

Davis, the squad’s naturalized player, knocked down 17 points and seven rebounds while Cheng-Ju added 13 markers for the Taiwanese, who kissed the tournament goodbye with a single win in five matches.