Gilas Pilipinas turns back Qatar to remain perfect in FIBA Asia Cup

Despite being assured of the top spot in its group, the Philippines pulled out all the stops to put out a pesky Qatar comeback, 80-74, to end the preliminary stage of the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup with a perfect record on Sunday.

Inspired by a raucous crowd of overseas Filipinos in Lebanon, Gilas Pilipinas scored its third straight victory to top Group B of the tournament. The Philippines defeated China and Iraq for its first two wins.

With its top seeding, Gilas earned a bye into the quarterfinal round of the tournament, where it will await the winner of the Japan-South Korea playoff on Monday.

Impressively, the Pinoy dribblers swept the group stages without star center June Mar Fajardo, who has not seen action because of a calf injury. Gilas was hampered even more against Qatar with Filipino-German center Christian Standhardinger resting and foward Calvin Abueva suffering an injury in the second period. Gilas' remaining big men, Raymond Almazan, Japeth Aguilar, and Gabe Norwood, also battled foul trouble in the first half.

PBA rookies Matthew Wright and Carl Bryan Cruz picked up the slack, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the first two periods as Gilas rolled to a 41-27 halftime edge advantage.

Gilas stretched the lead to as much as 18 points, 51-33, early in the third quarter. But just as the Philippines looked well on its way to an easy evening, Qatar scored the next 10 points to cut the deficit to just eight, 51-43.

Terrence Romeo, the hero of Gilas' first two games, responding by hitting five free throws and assisting Wright for a three-pointer as the Philippines ended the third period with a 59-47 advantage.

Qatar threatened anew in the fourth period, hitting a series of long jumpers to cut the lead to just five, 73-68, with 2:34 remaining. Romeo and Wright responded with bombs of their own to keep Gilas above water, with a layup from the GlobalPort ace giving Gilas an 80-72 edge with 31 seconds left.

Wright scored 25 points to lead Gilas as he served as zone-buster against Qatar's defense, while Cruz finished with 13. Romeo scored 10 points, while Norwood stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. --JST, GMA News