Gilas Men’s U23 team downed Chinese Taipei, 17-12, to remain unscathed in the 19th Asian Games 3×3 basketball competitions, Tuesday at the Deqing Geographic Information Park Basketball Court in Hangzhou, China.
Bismarck Lina came through with the game’s most important buckets in the dying seconds to close it out as they went on to collect their second win in as many games to stay sitting on top of the five-team Pool A.
The San Beda big man began closing the door on their Taiwanese counterparts when he made a lay-up as a response to Jhe Yu Wang’s own make to push their lead to three, 15-12, with only 30 seconds remaining.
Lina then whammed it shut by calmly making both of his free throws with 9.3 ticks left to play, leaving their foes reeling after a promising start to their campaign Monday that saw them rout Hong Kong, 22-12.
Lina finished with three points and four rebounds in nine minutes as he logged the most minutes among the squad of Coach Lester Del Rosario,
Bryan Sajonia led the way for Gilas with six points and seven rebounds, finishing as Gilas’ top-scorer once again after finishing with the same amount of points to lead his side to a 13-8 opening day win over Jordan on Monday.
FEU Tamaraw JR Pasaol and St. Benilde’s Justine Sanchez added four points apiece for the Philippines, who will next face Hong Kong on Wednesday at 4:20 p.m. and try to stretch its unbeaten run to three.
Chiang Chun, on the other hand, led Chinese Taipei (1-1) with four points in the defeat. Yu Xiang-ping and Lin Sin Kuan added three apiece.
The Scores:
Philippines (17) – Sajonia 6, Pasaol 4, Sanchez 4, Lina 3.
Chinese Taipei (12) – Chiang 4, Yu 3, Lin 3, Wang 2.
