By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno
MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas turned things around in the second half to beat reigning TAT champions Macau Black Bears, 103-98, in a special club-versus-country battle on Monday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Down by as much as 21 points in the second quarter of the send-off match, Gilas came alive in the third, dropping 33 points to cut the lead down to two before dominating the early part of the fourth to go up, 93-85, with 5:38 left.
Macau still put up a scare midway through the fourth as it went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead down to one, 93-92, with 3:58 to go.
However, back-to-back jumpers from Chris Newsome and Justin Brownlee brought Gilas’ lead back to seven, while AJ Edu put the exclamation point with a slam dunk with 41 seconds remaining.
Brownlee, playing for the first time since undergoing surgery to repair a broken thumb he suffered during last season’s PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, finished with 32 points on 10-of-14 shooting, 15 rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block for Gilas.
Dwight Ramos added 19 points, four rebounds, six assists, two steals, and one block.
Calvin Oftana and June Mar Fajardo, three nights after concluding their PBA Philippine Cup campaign, sat out the game along with Troy Rosario.
CJ Perez, however, decided to give it a go and eventually sparked Gilas’ third-quarter comeback.
Gilas now turns its attention to the FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, with the team leaving by Wednesday evening.
Will Douglas led Macau with 23 points, three rebounds, three assists, and eight steals, but he too had five turnovers.
Quentin Millora-Brown put up six points, seven rebounds, two assists, one block, and two steals. (PNA)
