MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas got its scoring going in the second half. It cruised to a 74-66 victory over Jordan in the fifth window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Thursday night (Friday in the Philippines) at the Prince Hamzah Hall in Amman, Jordan.
Down 37-41 at the half, the national men’s basketball team opened the third quarter with a triple from Kai Sotto, free throws by Roger Pogoy and Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and a three-point play by Japeth Aguilar to take a 46-43 lead.
Jordan cut it to 45-46 but Gilas Pilipinas answered back with a layup from Earl Scottie Thompson, a free throw by Jamie Malonzo and inside hits by Jaymar Perez and Angelo Kouame for a 53-45 advantage after three quarters.
Gilas Pilipinas continued its rampage in the fourth period with a trifecta from Dwight Ramos and consecutive baskets from Perez and Sotto inside to widen the advantage to 57-65.
Jordan had their opportunities to close the gap but they misfired their free throws before Gilas Pilipinas got connections from Thompson and Pogoy for their largest lead of 13 points.
Sotto led the way with 16 points, including two triples, to go with seven rebounds, while Parks and Perez chipped in 13 and 11 markers, respectively, for the national men’s basketball team.
Thompson flirted with triple-double with 13 rebounds, eight points and eight assists as the Vincent “Chot” Reyes-mentored Gilas Pilipinas moved up to 4-3 win-loss slate in the qualifiers.
Jordan cruised to an early 7-2 lead but Gilas Pilipinas slowly clawed its way back to take a 15-12 lead on a Sotto triple. The home team regained the edge at 20-18 but a triple by Parks gave them a 21-20 advantage.
Another triple by Parks followed by an inside hit by John Paul Erram gave Gilas Pilipinas a 28-24 lead early in the second period but the Jordanian leaned on their outside shooting to surge to a 41-37 halftime lead.
Dar Tucker top-scored with 23 points but only drilled two three-pointers, while Ahmad Al Dwairi had double-double 18 points and 16 rebounds as Jordan slumped to 3-4 win-loss slate.
BOX SCORE:
PHILIPPINES 74 – Sotto 16, Parks 13, Perez 11, Thompson 8, Pogoy 7, Ramos 5, Aguilar 5, Erram 4, Malonzo 3, Kouame 2, Oftana 0.
JORDAN 66 – Tucker 23, Dwairi 18, Bzai 9, H. Abbas 7, Ibrahim 6, Alhendi 3, Z. Abbas 0, Hussein 0, Alhamarsheh 0, Kanaan 0, Alnajdawi 0.
Quarterscores: 21-20, 37-41, 58-51, 74-66./PN
