Blatche-less Gilas survives Chinese Taipei in Jones Cup

MANILA, Philippines -- Gilas Pilipinas weathered a third quarter storm to survive Chinese Taipei-Blue, 77-69, Sunday to open their William Jones Cup on a positive note. 

Gilas was able to recover from a big third quarter surge by the hosts with Terrence Romeo and Jayson Castro providing the big plays to pull off the big win that avenged Gilas' 79-84 loss to Chinese Taipei at home back in the 2013 FIBA Asia Men's Championship.

Chinese Taipei stormed back from a 16-point deficit to tie the game at the end of the third quarter, 54-all, but they lost steam in the payoff period.

Romeo and Calvin Abueva delivered scintillating performances in their Asian basketball debut as they provided the 1-2 scoring punch for Gilas while Castro sealed the victory with his heady plays down the stretch. 

Romeo hit 18 points on an array of shake and bake and daredevil drives that he laced up with four steals. Abueva added 15 points and five rebounds while Castro put up all-around numbers finishing with 14 points, four rebounds, four assist and four steals. Hontiveros hit three triples in his Asian cage comeback for nine points, which helped Gilas get off to a good start.

With the quartet of guards doing most of the damage, Moala Tautuaa, Marc Pingris, Sonny Thoss and Asi Taulava held the fort by committee to fill the void left by Andray Blatche, who left the team to attend to his uncle's funeral in the US.

Gilas went off to a 7-0 start but the home team was able to recover and even led, 17-16. With Romeo at the forefront of attack, Gilas finished the opening quarter with a 10-3 run to establish control, 26-20.

Romeo was not done as he continued to run rings around Chinese Taipei defenders. His killer crossover and a daring layup against Chinese Taipei's naturalized center Quincy Davis gave the Philippines its first double digit lead, 30-20, as Los Angeles Lakers' rising star Jordan Clarkson wildly cheered from the sidelines. 

Abueva and Norwood then took turns in building Gilas' biggest lead, 47-28, with 2:56 left in the first half.

Chinese Taipei, however, tightened up the screws in the third quarter then finally hit their strides from the outside. Just like in their game against the Netherlands in Estonia, Gilas fell to a maze of errors and could not execute their plays as Chinese Taipei outscored them, 23-7.

The memory of the 2013 FIBA Asia collapse against the same Chinese Taipei team came back to haunt this latest Gilas iteration. Chinese Taipei last threatened at 64-66 but Castro and Romeo hit big shots after big shots to put the game away. 

Romeo's shot-clock beating triple stretched Gilas' lead to eight, 73-65 with under two minutes left. Then Castro hit a floater and completed a fastbreak play off a steal sandwiching another daredevil drive by Romeo. 

Romeo and Castro were too much for the home team down the stretch.  

Chinese Taipei's naturalized player Quincy Davis had 12 points and 11 boards while locals Shieh Nien Chen and Tseng Wen Ting added 12 and 11 points, respectively.