Flashy guard powers Gilas to thrilling win over New Zealand in MVP Cup

ROMEO SHINES ANEW

If the country needed any more reasons to believe that Terrence Romeo is the toast of Philippine basketball today, the Cebuano guard certainly gave them plenty as he caught fire from downtown in crunchtime to lead the Gilas Pilipinas to a scintillating 84-81 win over the Wellington Saints in the MVP Cup yesterday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Romeo, whose father hails from Boljoon, buried four three-pointers in the last five minutes of the match, tallying 14 of his 18 points when it mattered the most to pull the Gilas back from the jaws of defeat and come away with their second win in as many games in this three-nation, four-team tournament.
The Gilas trailed by as much as 13, 54-67, in the third until Romeo started his shooting display with back to back hits inside four minutes left that pushed the Filipinos in front, 78-76. The Saints responded with a triple of their own to snatch the lead back but Calvin Abueva scored to put the Gilas back in the driver’s seat, 80-79.

Romeo then found Jayson Castro for a transition bucket to give the Gilas an 82-79 lead, 50 seconds remaining. The Saints pulled to within a point with two free-throws but Romeo shut the door on the visitors and sealed the victory with two of his own.

Naturalized Filipino Andray Blatche scored 16 while Abueva pitched in 10.

The Filipinos face off against Chinese Taipei seeking a win that would clinch the crown for them and give them much confidence and momentum heading to the Fiba Asia Championship in China later this month.

In the first game, Talk ‘N Text upended Chinese Taipei, 99-91, behind stellar performances of rookies Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario.

Tautuaa, the PBA’s top draft pick had 20 points and 13 rebounds while Rosario, the second pick, added 19 points and nine rebounds as the Texters evened their record up at 1-1 while sending Chinese Taipei to their second straight loss.