Romeo sparks Gilas Pilipinas win over China

Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — Gilas Pilipinas salvaged some measure of pride, beating Asian nemesis China, 72-69, early Monday to the third spot in the Imperial City Basketball Tournament at Land Rover Arena in Bologna, Italy. The morale-boosting win somehow eased the ignominy of losing by a combined margin of 71 points against Turkey and Italy in Gilas’ European training tour. The victory was also special since it avenged the loss to China for the gold in the FIBA Asia Championship Finals last year. Terrence Romeo made sure Gilas Pilipinas would not be returning home Tuesday empty-handed as he led the Filipinos with 18 points, 11 of them in the fourth quarter including two crucial triples in the endgame that stopped the surging Chinese. Andray Blatche added 14 points and 12 boards, while Jeff Chan and Jayson Castro chipped in with 10 and nine markers, respectively. China, which already grabbed a ticket to the Rio Olympics, did not field its top players in NBA draft pick Zhou Qi and former NBA player Yi Jianlian. Gilas Pilipinas was reduced to an 11-man team after Ranidel de Ocampo was ejected in the second quarter along with a Chinese player after both were assessed fragrant fouls for getting entangled. After a tight first half, Castro scored eight points in a 10-0 Gilas run as the Filipinos took a 49-39 lead with 3:58 remaining in the third quarter. But the Chinese drilled four straight three-pointers in a 12-2 rally that tied the game anew at 51-all. With Gilas down 63-61 with 4:22 left in the game, Romeo took over, banging in back-to-back triples to spark an 8-2 run, giving the Filipinos a 69-65 lead with 2:28 remaining. China closed the gap with a basket, but Marc Pingris negated it with a basket of his own as Gilas maintained a four-point lead, 71-67, with 1:39 left. The Chinese missed a flurry of shots before finally scoring a basket with a second remaining. Pingris then sealed the victory with a free throw. The Gilas boys are returning to Manila Tuesday to continue their preparations for the Olympic qualifier after spending two weeks in Europe. They will take on Turkey again Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena for their final tune-up game before they go up against France on July 5. Hours before the game against China, Gilas Pilipinas bared its final 12-man lineup for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Tapped by coach Tab Baldwin to lead the Philippines’ last quest for a berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics are: Blatche, Castro, Romeo, Chan, Pingris, De Ocampo, Gabe Norwood, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Ray Parks, Ryan Reyes and Troy Rosario Left out from the initial 14-player roster are LA Tenorio and Calvin Abueva, whose exclusion came as a surprise to many. Even former Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes admitted that he did not expect the energetic hard-fighting forward to be cut from the 12-man roster. But Reyes said he understands why Baldwin decided to leave out Abueva and Tenorio, and chose Rosario and Ryan Reyes instead. He said it all boils down to one word: height. Rosario stands at 6’7” while Abueva, who recently won the Best Player of the Conference award in the Commissioner’s Cup, only stands at 6’2”.