GILAS Pilipinas completed a sweep of its games in the fourth window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers after a 68-56 comeback against Iran on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Juan Gomez de Liano, Kai Sotto, and Dwight Ramos led the decisive breakaway midway through the fourth quarter in the win that revived the home team's hopes of making it to the World Cup for the fourth straight time.
READ Abarrientos, Arana, Baltazar to beef up Gilas team to Asian Games
The Filipinos overcame another slow start that saw them fall behind, 18-5, to even their win-loss record to 4-4 at the close of the window.
The Philippines is now within reach of second-placer New Zealand (6-2), and third ranked Iran and Jordan (5-3) in the Group E standings, which Australia lead with a spotless 8-0 record.
The three top teams in each of the two groups and the best fourth-place team at the end of the second round make it to the World Cup in Qatar.
The game also marked the farewell of June Mar Fajardo in a Gilas Pilipinas jersey. He was serenaded with 'MVP, MVP' chants and awarded the gameball by his teammates moments after the final buzzer sounded.
Gomez de Liano scored 16 points and delivered two threes in the second half including one in the fourth that got Gilas Pilipinas up, 54-52.
Iran quickly tied the match but Ramos nailed a corner three followed by a Sotto dunk to get the Gilas crowd going and start a 7-0 blast that got the home team ahead for good, 61-54.
“I’m the happiest guy in the world,” Gilas coach Tim Cone said during the postgame press conference.
Ramos had 16 points and seven rebounds, while Sotto had 13 points and 16 rebounds as Gilas Pilipinas followed up its dramatic 82-81 overtime win over Jordan last Friday.
Fajardo had six points in his final game, and provided the spark in the second quarter with an 11-0 run that turned a 21-29 deficit into a 32-29 lead.
The Philippines also survived the impressive play of Mobin Sheikhi, who had 21 points on 5-of-8 shooting from threes. He was so hot he even scored one trey over the outstretched hands of the 7-foot-3 Sotto.
READ Flu-like symptoms almost kept Dwight Ramos out of Iran game
The scores:
Philippines 68 – Gomez de Liano 16, Ramos 16, Sotto 13, Edu 8, Quiambao 6, Fajardo 6, Perez 3, Newsome 0, Thompson 0.
Iran 56 – Sheikhi 21, Amini 7, Aghajanpour 6, Girgoorian 5, Monji 5, Heydari 4, Jafari 4, Kazemi 2, Taheri 2, Zangeneh 0, Jamshidi 0, Aliakbari 0.
Quarters: 7-18; 36-34; 49-47; 68-56.
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