GILAS Pilipinas went to the hot hands of Justine Brownlee and Dwight Ramos in the second half to pull off a 74-64 win over the Taiwan Mustangs in their tune-up game Monday night before a big crowd at the Philsports Arena.
Ramos topscored for 19 points and Brownlee 12 as they presided over a third quarter run by the home team to put the game away.
Brownlee also had 15 assists, five rebounds, and three steals in the wire-to-wire win that served as a fitting send-off for Gilas, which leaves for Europe on Tuesday night for next week's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia.
Head coach Tim Cone was happy with the win, but not satisfied with the way the team performed against a Taiwan side coached by former Rain or Shine mentor Chris Gavina and a roster that included PBA champions Alex Cabagnot, Rashawn McCarthy, Ateneo product Geo Chiu, and hulking 7-foot-6 Sam Deguara.
"For this day, it wasn't pretty. We gotta be better. That's why we have these games," said Cone after the game played out before 5,000 crowd at the Pasig arena.
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"We're not where we want to be yet, but we have to be better."
Gilas held just a 37-32 lead at the break, before Ramos and Brownlee led a Gilas breakaway which saw the Filipinos outscored the Mustangs, 21-12 in the third period to make it a 58-44 contest entering the fourth.
Ramos finished 7-of-11 from the field including 4-of-5 from deep.
Young big man Kai Sotto had nine points and nine rebounds, while frontcourt partner June Mar Fajardo added eight and four boards as they teamed up to slow down Deguara at the other end.
The 33-year-old center still finished in double figures for Taiwan with 13 rebounds and 10 points.
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Oscar Lopez, who played for the Cambodia team that bagged the silver medal behind Gilas in last year's Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, led the visiting team with 15 points and nine rebounds while Cabagnot and McCarthy, formerly teammates with San Miguel Beer, chipped in 13 and 12 apiece.(RG)
The scores:
Gilas Pilipinas (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.
Quarterscores: 25-19; 37-32; 58-44; 74-64.
