Gilas defuses Jordan’s late surge, finishes 7th

MANILA, Philippines - Gilas Pilipinas survived a bristling onslaught by Jordan in the fourth quarter, turning to Terrence Romeo and Japeth Aguilar in the crunch to salvage a 75-70 win and a seventh-place finish at the close of the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beirut last night.

Struggling on a 2-of-12 clip, Romeo delivered in the final minute, bombing away a trey then feeding a pass to Japeth Aguilar for a key twinner that pushed Team Phl back in the lead with time down to 13 seconds.

Two defensive stops in the dying seconds enabled the Filipinos to pull off the victory and salvage some measure of pride after losing their last two games to South Korea and Lebanon.

Romeo and Matthew Wright shared scoring honors with 13 points apiece while Carl Bryan Cruz, Japeth Aguilar and Jayson Castro combined for 25 markers as Gilas ended its stint here on the winning note.

The Nationals gather again in November for the initial window of the FIBA Asia home-and-away qualifier for the 2019 World Cup.

Romeo emerged Gilas’ biggest hero in the end versus Jordan after checking in to sub for Castro who got hurt entering the final minute of the game. Castro had made eight points, eight assists and four rebounds before taking the exit.

Trailing most of the way, Jordan threatened to steal the game with an 11-to-nothing tear to grab the lead at 70-65 with time down to 2:03.

But the Filipinos refused to lose.

Through the effort of their second group, the Nationals made some separation in the second quarter and took the half at 35-27.

With Romeo leading their charge, the Gilas bench pummeled their Jordan counterpart, 20-1, in the first 20 minutes of action.

Swarming defense that forced the Jordanians to 11 turnovers also helped the Filipinos enjoy an eight-point cushion at the turn.

The scores:

Philippines 75 – Romeo 13, Wright 13, Cruz 9, Aguilar 8, Castro 8, Abueva 6, Norwood 5, Almazan 4, Jalalon 4, Fajardo 3, Pogoy 2.

Jordan 70 – Alawadi 21, Hussein 13, Alharmasheh 12, Abdeen 10, Hawwas 8, Zaghab 3, Bzai 3, Abu Wazaneh 0.

Quarterscores: 17-17, 35-27, 58-53, 75-70