MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATED) SMART Gilas Pilipinas started slow but finished strong to fend off Chinese-Taipei, 90-83, in their second game of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers on Monday evening at the Araneta Coliseum.

In front of over 11,000 fans at home, the national team relied on the energy provided by their second unit to climb out of an early 14-point hole, then leaned on Jayson Castro to seal the victory over the tough visiting squad.

With the victory, the Philippines went 2-0 in the first window of FIBA World Cup qualifiers. Gilas Pilipinas triumphed on the road against Japan last Friday, 77-71, with Castro once again leading the way.

"The Blur," a two-time Mythical Team selection in the FIBA Asia Cup, fired a team-high 20 points on top of four rebounds and four assists. June Mar Fajardo played his best game in international competition, finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

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Roger Pogoy and Matthew Wright both finished with 11 points, with the latter scoring all of his points in the fourth quarter to help the Philippines pull away for good.

Naturalized center Andray Blatche struggled to score as he was the focal point of Chinese-Taipei's defense, but contributed 14 rebounds and five blocks. Kiefer Ravena, in his second game for the senior team, had nine points and five assists off the bench.

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"Well, obviously we're happy because we found a way to grind out two Ws despite not playing, despite being nowhere near 100% in our game," Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes said after the game.

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At first, however, it appeared as though Gilas was headed for an upset loss on its home floor. The Filipinos trailed 17-4 early and seemed to have no answer for Chinese-Taipei's Quincy Davis III, who had 12 points in the opening frame.

However, the entry of Gilas' second unit – anchored by Calvin Abueva, Ravena, Fajardo and Pogoy – energized the team and the crowd. With Abueva slashing to the rim and Fajardo baiting Davis into foul trouble, Gilas steadily trimmed the deficit and was down by just five points, 23-18, to end the opening frame.

The shock troopers continued to play well in the second quarter, with Ravena orchestrating a 14-4 blast to push the Philippines ahead, 32-27. It was Ravena that gave Gilas its first lead of the game, after he completed a transition bucket; he then proceeded to draw an unsportsmanlike foul on Chinese Taipei's Yi-Hsiang Chou in the next possession.

Ravena knocked down two charities, and Gilas made the most out of the bonus possession, as Blatche found Abueva open for the bucket that gave them their biggest lead of the first half, 32-27.

Chinese-Taipei responded with a 12-4 run of its own, with Jhen Huang drilling a triple that regained the lead for his team before Cheng Liu capped the run with a lay-up for a 39-36 lead.

But it was Gilas that ended the half on a stronger note. Abueva continued to have his way inside the paint, and Fajardo used his patented rip-through move to draw Davis' third foul of the game. Blatche ended the half by knocking down two charities that gave Gilas a 44-42 lead.

"We started poorly, but our second unit gave us a big lift," said Reyes. "Our second unit got us back in the game."

The Filipinos barely held on to that advantage after a see-saw third quarter, one that saw them build a 54-48 lead, only to give it up thanks to a hail of triples from Chinese-Taipei.

They still led 65-64 heading into the payoff period, but blew a golden opportunity to make it a bigger advantage as Abueva bricked all three free throws after fishing for a foul against Yu-An Chiang.

"We couldn't make free throws in practice, and it reflected in the game today," said Reyes.

In the fourth period, Gilas finally seized control. Wright, after being shackled in the first three quarters, knocked down two triples in the first two minutes to lift the Philippines to a 73-66 lead. Free throws by Yi-Hsiang Chou and a Chiang lay-up made it a one-point game, 73-72, with 6:35 left, but it was the last time that the visitors would threaten.

Castro took over the game, speeding to the rim for an and-1 then assisting on Wright's third triple of the period. Pogoy soon joined the three-point party, before Wright scored in transition for an 84-76 lead with 2:33 left. Ravena then gave Gilas its biggest lead of the game, 86-76, when he drew Davis' fifth foul and knocked down two free throws.

"We didn't play our best game and that's pretty evident," Wright said. "Credit to Taipei, they came out in the first quarter and they jumped on us . . . We had to play catchup from that point on."

"But we won. We went 2-0, and we accomplished what we set out to do," he added.

Gilas won the game despite shooting only 6 of 22 from beyond the arc. A big factor was the team's post play, as the Philippines had 48 points in the paint to only 32 for the visitors. They also repeatedly drew fouls on Chinese Taipei, and made 20 of their 28 free throws.

Davis finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, but he barely had an impact in the second half of the game. Chou contributed 17 points, and Jhen Huang added 16 markers.

Chinese Taipei finished the first qualifying window with a 0-2 record, having lost to Australia on their home court last Friday.

The scores:

PHILIPPINES 90 – Castro 20, Fajardo 17, Wright 11, Pogoy 11, Ravena 9, Abueva 8, Blatche 6, Norwood 5, Aguilar 3.

CHINESE-TAIPEI 83 – Davis 20, Chou Y. 17, Huang 16, Liu 7, Tsai 6, Lee 6, Chou P.C. 4, Chou P.H. 3, Chen 2, Chiang 2, Hu 0, Lu 0.

Quarters: 18-23; 44-42; 65-64; 90-83.

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