MANILA – The Philippines overcame a torrid start by Qatar to score a 92-81 victory in the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifier on Monday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Japeth Aguilar and Alex Cabagnot led the way with 16 points apiece while Stanley Pringle and Beau Belga chipped in 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Philippines.
Team Philippines went up early 6-2 on baskets from Pringle, Earl Scottie Thompson and Ian Sangalang. Qatar suddenly pulled to a huge 13-0 scoring run for a 26-15 advantage.
Qatar continued with its torrid outside shooting in the second period to blow up the lead to its largest at 17 points. The Philippines came up with late hits from Sangalang, Aguilar and Cabagnot to come to within 39-52 at the half.
The Philippines slowly clawed its way back behind Thompson, Matthew Wright and Belga to trim the deficit 52-54 before finally overtaking the lead 67-64 with baskets from Aguilar and Lee.
Team Philippines went on to build a 74-66 lead on back-to-back shots from Aguilar and Pringle. Qatar rallied to within 5 points but the Philippines pulled away for good on inside hits from Aguilar for its largest lead 86-69.
Qatar went on for its last push to come to within 76-86 and later to 81-90 with under a minute left but two free throws from Cabagnot put the game within reach.
Mohd Yousuf Mohmmed finished with 26 points while Nasser Khalifa Al-Rayes and Tanguy Alban H Ngombo contributed 17 markers apiece for Qatar.
With the victory the Philippines moved up to solo third place in Group F standings with a 5-3 win-loss slate behind Australia (7-1) and Iran (6-2). Japan was at close fourth place (4-4)./PN
