Terrence Romeo scored 13 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead Gilas Pilipinas to a 72-69 victory over China in the Basketball City Tournament on Monday (Manila time) at the PalaDozza in Bologna, Italy.
Romeo hit three straight triples in the final period, handing Gilas a 69-65 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the match.
Gilas led by as much as 49-39 in the third quarter after a four-point play from Jayson Castro, but the reigning FIBA Asia gold medalists fought back.
A triple by Zhou Peng equalized the score early in the fourth, 54-all. A three from Zhai Xiaochuan gave China its biggest lead at 62-58.
The Philippines then went on an 11-3 run highlighted by outside shots from Romeo. Ding Yanyuhang cut the deficit down to two, but Marc Pingris replied with a basket of his own to make it 71-67 in the final 1:39.
Zou Yuchen scored in the dying moments of the game, but Pingris scored a split from the foul line, enough to put the game away.
Romeo came off the bench in the game, and shot 6-for-10 from the floor. Andray Blatche tallied a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds while Jeff Chan finished with 10 points.
Zhou led China with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Zhai had 15 points, while Ding contributed 11 points.
The Philippines had an 11-4 lead in second chance points, and a slight 41-40 edge in rebounding.
The win was Gilas’ first win over China since the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup.
The Scores:
Philippines (72) – Romeo 18, Blatche 14, Chan 10, Castro 9, Reyes 5, Fajardo 5, Pingris 3, Rosario 3, Norwood 2, Aguilar 2, Parks 1, de Ocampo 0.
China (69) – Zhou 18, Zhai 15, Ding 11, Wang 9, Zhao 5, Zou 4, Li G. 4, Sui 2, Jia 1, Li M. 0, Kelambaike 0.
Quarterscores: 22-23, 34-34, 54-51, 72-69.
