By Vivem Soriano
Eagle News Service
June Mar Fajardo came off the bench to score a game-high 22 points to lead Gilas Pilipinas in overcoming an ugly start and routing the home team Chinese Taipei, 93-71, at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium tonight, at the FIBA Asia World Cup Qualifiers.
The visiting Pinoy cagers had a rough start, scoring just 6 points up until the 3:57 mark of the opening quarter.
Chinese Taipei managed to repel a late rally by the visitors as the home team held on to a 19-16 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.
Chinese Taipei then went on to a quick 8-2 run to open the 2nd quarter, pushing their lead to 27-18.
Chinese-Taipei led by as much as 9 points.
But Gilas Pilipinas finally flexed their muscles, outscoring the home team 28-18 as the visitors mounted a 44-37 lead to end the 1st half.
Gilas continued their dominance in the 3rd quarter, leading by as much as 15 points, 62-47, but Chinese-Taipei managed to cut the lead down to 8 at the end of the 3rd quarter, 68-60.
It was all Gilas Pilipinas in the 4th quarter.
The visiting Pinoys dominated the home team in the final period, outscoring Chinese-Taipei 25-11 during the 4th highlighted by a Fajardo breakaway dunk at the 2:37 mark to push the lead up to 15.
Gilas held the home team scoreless in the final 3 minutes of the ballgame to capture a 93-71 road victory.
Fajardo led the the Philippines with 22 points and 4 rebounds off the bench. Jayson Castro added 15 points and 4 assists. Guard Terrence Romeo scored 14 and dished out 6 assists while naturalized big man Andray Blatche had a double-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks
Naturalized center Quincy Davis III led Chinese-Taipei with points. Cheng-Ju Lu scored 13 while Ying-Chun Chen added 11 points for the home team.
The loss meant Chinese-Taipei must now defeat Japan on July 2 as both teams now sit with identical 1-4 records heading to their final first round games. The winner advances to next round.
The Japanese earlier pulled off a massive 79-78 upset against the visiting Australians to keep their hopes of qualifying alive.
Meanwhile, Gilas Pilipinas will return home and battle Australia for the top spot in Group B at the cavernous and ultra-modern Philippine Arena on Monday, July 2, at 7:30 PM.
Both the Philippines and Australia share a 4-1 record and have already qualified and advanced to the next round of qualifiers.
PHILIPPINES 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.
Quarterscores: 16-19, 44-37, 68-60, 93-71
