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An inspired Gilas Pilipinas caught fire in the second half to hand defending champion Iran its first loss of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship with a stunning 87-73 victory Mon, Sep 28, at Changsha, China.
There were several heroes for the Philippines, led by Jayson Castro, who scored a game-high 26 points and thoroughly torched his Iranian defenders all game long.
Naturalized player Andray Blatche, despite suffering a twisted ankle against Japan yesterday, had 18 points, seven rebounds, four steals, and two blocks.
It was the pair of Terrence Romeo and Calvin Abueva, however, who injected life into the squad in the third quarter after a poor first half that saw them trail 37-43 behind a hail of three-pointers by Iran’s Nikkha Bahrami.
“Impressive game today,” Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin said after their victory. “I told them this game was won by individuals playing as a team. To me, that’s the essence of this particular team.”
After Iran took a 47-37 lead early in the third quarter, Blatche and Castro conspired in a 9-0 run that made it a one-point game, 46-47. Bahrami’s triple extended the Iran lead to four, 50-46, with 5:55 to go, and they were still ahead 54-52 when Romeo caught fire.
Romeo drained back-to-back three-pointers, including a seemingly ill-advised pull-up triple in transition that bounced high before dropping to give Gilas a 58-57 lead with 3:05 remaining in the quarter. Less than a minute later, he banked in a lay-up, and the Philippines would never trail again.
Abueva, for his part, was a pest on the defensive end as he repeatedly stole the ball off Iran’s towering Hamed Haddadi. “The Beast” was also responsible for getting Haddadi out of the game, as he drew the Iranian center’s fourth foul with 3:52 to go. Irate, Haddadi complained vociferously to the referee and was given a technical as well.
With Haddadi out, Gilas went on to lead by as many as 16 points and cruised to the much-needed victory that gave them a 3-1 record so far in the second round, tying Iran at the top of Group E. (For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)
Text: Camille Naredo, ABS-CBNnews.com
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
