GILAS Pilipinas leaned on Dwight Ramos and Justin Brownlee in a third-quarter breakaway in a 74-64 win against Taiwan Mustangs on Monday in a tune-up at the Philsports Arena.
Ramos and Brownlee helped Gilas outscore the Mustangs, 21-12, in the third quarter and gain headway in their tune-up before home fans prior to leaving for Europe to continue their build-up for the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
It was a close game until halftime with Gilas ahead, 37-32, before the hosts started to make their shots especially from the outside more consistently.
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Ramos finished with 19 points on 4-of-5 shooting from threes, his only miss coming in the fourth quarter. He also had three rebounds, and four steals.
Brownlee had a double-double of 12 points and 15 assists in the friendly that was opened to the public and was attended by a good-sized crowd.
Kai Sotto had nine points and nine rebounds, while June Mar Fajardo added eight points and four steals as the two centers had to deal with Taiwan Mustangs’ 7-foot-6 center Samuel Deguara.
Oscar Lopez scored 15 points,while former PBA players Alex Cabagnot and Rashawn McCarthy had 13 and 12 points apiece for the Mustangs, who are competing in The Asian Tournament.
The friendly served as a send-off for Gilas, which will vie for a Paris Olympics berth in the Fiba OQT set from July 2 to 7 in Riga, Latvia.
The Philippines will still have two tune-up games against Turkey and Poland before going into action in the tournament proper.
The scores:
Philippines 74 – Ramos 19, Brownlee 12, Sotto 9, Fajardo 8, Tamayo 7, Aguilar 6, Oftana 3, Amos 3, Perez 3, Newsome 2, Quiambao 2.
Taiwan Mustangs 64 – Lopez 15, Cabagnot 13, McCarthy 12, Deguara 10, Robinson 5, Miller 4, Borja 3, Yan 2, Chung 0, Chiu 0.
Quarters: 25-19; 37-32; 58-44; 74-64.
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