It took a heroic shot from Kevin Quiambao in overtime to lift Gilas Pilipinas to victory against Jordan, 82-81, Friday, in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Despite trailing the game by as many as 18 points, the Filipino squad unleashed their offensive arsenal in the latter quarters to eventually knot the game at 79-all before Quiambao’s game-winning three.
The victory improved the team’s win-loss record to 3-4, halting a four-game losing streak since the start of the qualifiers.
Gritty Gilas
The pro-Filipino crowd erupted in jubilation as soon as Quiambao knocked down the game-winning triple of the night.
However, the Jordanians refused to go down easily as they forced a foul on CJ Perez, sending Freddy Ibrahim to the free-throw line to shoot his two freebies.
As Gilas’ lead got trimmed down to a solitary point following Ibrahim’s two charity shots, Scottie Thompson made a crucial five-second inbound pass error, allowing Jordan to get the opportunity to knock the last shot of the match.
With Abdullah Olajuwon pushing the ball for the visiting squad, Filipino big man Kai Sotto proved too big of an obstacle as the latter scored a game-saving block against the Jordanian point guard.
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Morale-boosting win
Sotto topped Gilas with an 18-point and 14-rebound double-double after a year of rest from national team duties following a major injury.
Perez delivered 16 points and five rebounds. He also forced the game to go to extra regulation after a layup with 43.7 seconds remaining in the match.
Meanwhile, Quiambao came up with a total of 14 markers for the Gilas squad.
With the win, the Philippines have moved up to just one game behind the second-place teams Jordan, Iran, and New Zealand (5-2) in Group E of the qualifying window.
The Filipinos will face Iran next on Sunday.
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