Games today
(Xinchuang Gymnasium)
1 p.m. – Spartak Primorye vs Gilas Pilipinas
3 p.m. – Iran vs Wellington Saints
5 p.m. – USA Select-Overtake vs South Korea
7p.m. – Chinese Taipei-B vs Chinese Taipei-A
South Korea unleashed an array of three-pointers including two down the stretch to punish the Gilas Pilipinas, 82-70, in the 37th William Jones Cup last night at the Xin Zhuang Gym in Taiwan.
The defeat gave the country’s pride and joy their first loss of the tournament and pegged their win-loss record at 1-1 with six more games remaining on their schedule.
Still, Gilas rookie Terrence Romeo continued to impress as he chartered 23 points while Gary David turned back the clock and had 16 points, spiked by three triples. Another Gilas newcomer, Calvin Abueva, added eight points and six rebounds.
“It doesn’t matter what I did in the fourth quarter because our team still lost,” Romeo, who now has an average of 20.5 points in the first two games, told reporters. “We need to learn from our mistakes and make the team win.”
The Gilas started hot and actually led, 21-20, after the first. But South Korea turned their game up a notch to seize the upper hand, 36-34, at halftime. The see-saw battle though continued in the third as Romeo, Abueva and David connived to give the Gilas back the lead, 54-50. But just as quickly, the South Korea logged in two quick baskets to tie the game up heading to the last canto.
There, South Korea took control as they scored 13 straight points to register their biggest lead of the game at 69-58, 4:16 to go. But Romeo tried to lead Gilas back into it with three free-throws and a triple to trim the deficit to five, 64-69. However, Moon Taeyoung sank two free throws while Lee Junghyun added a three-pointer to bring the lead back to double-digits, 76-65.
Gilas once again threatened at 70-76, after two charity stripe makes from Abueva but Seunghyun Lee and Chanhee Park sank a triple each to put the game away.
“I thought we were very individualistic, and I don’t like that,” said Gilas coach Tab Baldwin, seated next to Romeo – the man who has come up with most of the great individual plays thus far in the tournament.
“They just outplayed us. I thought they were the better team,” he added. “We just have to check that (individuality). Offensively, we just didn’t have the flow.”
The win was actually South Korea’s first in three outings in this competition.
Next up for the Gilas will be Spartak Primorye of Russia today at 1 p.m.
THE SCORES:
SOUTH KOREA (82) – Lee Seunghyun 19, Moon 17, Lee Jonghyun 12, Lee Jonghyun Hyun 11, Kim 8, Park 6, Kim S. H. 5, Ha 2, Kim T. S. 2, Lee J. H. 1
GILAS PILIPINAS 70 – Romeo 23, David 16, Abueva 9, Castro 7, de Ocampo 5, Taulava 4, Tautuaa 2, Intal 2, Ramos 2, Pingris 0, Norwood 0, Alapag 0.
QUARTER SCORES: 20-21; 36-34; 54-54; 82-70./ WITH INQUIRER.NET
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