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[av_heading heading=’Gilas takes 7th place in FIBA Asia ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas went on a huge finishing run to escape with a 75-70 win over Jordan and salvage a seventh-place finish in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup yesterday at the Nouhad Nawfal Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon.
Trailing 65-70 with under two minutes in the game, the Philippine team pulled away to within a single point following a split free throw by June Mar Fajardo and a triple by Terrence Romeo.
Gilas snatched the lead 71-70 on an inside hit by Japeth Aguilar before completing the 10-0 scoring run with two free throws by Matthew Wright and a fast-break layup by Roger Pogoy.
Romeo and Wright led the way with 13 points apiece while Carl Bryan Cruz, Aguilar and Jayson Castro combined for 25 markers for Gilas, which suffered back-to-back losses to South Korea and Lebanon earlier.
The Philippines suffered the crushing 106-87 defeat to Lebanon on Saturday.
Gilas head coach Chot Reyes also got ejected with more than five minutes remaining in the match. He was slapped with two technical fouls after complaining about the phantom calls of game officials.
El Khatib, 37, finished with tournament-best 36 points while Pelle had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 9 blocks for Lebanon.
Terrence Romeo top-scored with 19 points while Jayson Castro and June Mar Fajardo added 13 apiece for Gilas, which played without Filipino-German center Christian Standhardinger./PN
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