Dragged to the mud by a Russian side that threw cheap shots early on, the Gilas Pilipinas proved that they can be just as gritty and handed Spartak Primorye its first loss of the tournament via a 85-71 decision in the 37th William Jones Cup yesterday at the Xinchuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
The victory was a huge bounce back for the Filipinos, who were coming off a 70-82 loss to South Korea Monday evening.
The Nationals are now at 2-1 (win-loss) while the Russians tasted their first defeat after registering impressive wins over the United States, the Wellington Saints and South Korea.
It took the effort of every player who had Gilas emblazoned across their chest to get past Spartak Primorye in an emotional encounter that saw several skirmishes break out in the first period.
Cebuano center Sonny Thoss was left with a bloody head two minutes into the game that needed five staples to close after he was elbowed by big man Alimdzhan Fediushin.
Then, Romeo was hit by a forearm and then with a ball from the very same player that got Thoss, prompting Asi Taulava to leap up from the bench and confront the Russian player and his team’s bench. After technical fouls were called, the incident lit a fire from under the Gilas as they recovered from a 5-14 deficit and pulled to within three, 20-23, after a three-pointer from veteran international campaigner Jimmy Alapag.
The Filipinos kept on rolling and eventually grabbed the lead, 43-40, at halftime after some impressive plays from the PBA’s top picks Moala Tautaa and Troy Rosario and timely contributions from JC Intal and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser.
Showing the ferocity that at times was absent in their previous game, Gilas uncorked a 15-4 run, led this time by energetic forward Calvin Abueva, as they pushed their lead to 13, 61-48.
The Russians trimmed the lead to six with five unanswered points at the start of the final frame but grizzled veteran Ranidel de Ocampo scored a triple and two free throws to bring the lead back up to double-figures.
Cebuano hotshot Dondon Hontiveros then canned a trey of his own to give the Gilas a 68-55 advantage. Later on, De Ocampo and Hontiveros sparked a 10-0 blast with long-range bombs to put the game away.
De Ocampo scored all 13 of his points in the second half while Romeo added 11. Three others scored in twin digits for the Filipino side with Abueva flirting with a double-double of 10 points and eight rebounds. Tautaa and Rosser also had 10 each.
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