Terrence Romeo came to Gilas Pilipinas’ rescue with clutch shots as the Philippines defeated the defending champion China, 96-87, in a thrilling encounter in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon on Wednesday, August 9.
Trailing the Chinese 87-84 with less than 4 minutes in the game, Romeo scored 8 of Gilas' last 12 points. He dropped a three-pointer to tie the game and made a jumper just inside the shaded area to put Gilas up 89-87.
Romeo sank another triple to give Philippines enough lead to upset the Chinese team, and to get some revenge after they were defeated two years ago during the gold medal match of FIBA Asia.
The guard from Globalport Batang Pier finished with a game-high 26 points on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc to go with 4 assists.
Christian Standhardinger, in his FIBA Asia debut who replaced naturalized player Andray Blatche, contributed 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Veteran Jayson Castro, recognized as the Best Point Guard in Asia, scored 13 points and handed 7 assists.
Matthew Wright added 12 points, while Raymond Almazan, who stepped up in absence of June Mar Fajardo due to injury, scored nine points, including a triple and emphatic dunks over Chinese defenders.
RR Pogoy had 9 markers and six boards. Japeth Aguilar had a game-high five blocks, who also finished with 7 points. Gabe Norwood added three blocks to lead Gilas' block party.
Calvin Abueva, who was ejected in the first quarter following a disqualifying foul when he headbutted China's Li Gen, played only 1.5 minutes and scored two points.
The Philippines shot a 58% (22-of-38) inside the arc, and almost 59% from the three-point area (10-of-17) to overcome a 39-30 deficit in rebounding.
Guo Ailun scored 18 points and Zhou Peng had 17 for the China, who came back from a 17-point deficit but were helpless to stop Romeo.
Gilas next faces Iraq on Friday, August 11 at 9:00 pm (Manila Time) in the continuation of the group phase.