Just days after their win against Jordan, Gilas Pilipinas close out the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers with another win, beating Saudi Arabia, 76-63.
In the Philippine team’s last meeting against Saudi Arabia, Gilas pulled a dominating win on their home court, taking the game with a 38-point lead. However, Saudi Arabia managed to stay closer to the team today.
On their home court this time around, the Saudi Arabian team trailed closely behind the Filipinos. For Gilas, it was Dwight Ramos who led the team through the first half. He tallied team-high seven points and ended the second quarter with a three-pointer. With this, the Philippine side ended the first half of the game with a slim three-point lead, 28-25.
In the second half of the game, Gilas pulled together to seal the win. And again, it was Dwight Ramos who finished it off, scoring the last four points for the team to end the game, 76-63.
In total, Ramos scored 13 points, three rebounds, and four assists. Also reaching double digits today, Pogoy also tallied 13 points, Kai Sotto scored 11, and CJ Perez scored 10. With this, the team make it two-for-two in the fifth window.
All in all, it was a team effort from Gilas’ side to take the win over Saudi Arabia in Jeddah. Both wins thus improve the Philippines’ win-loss record to 5-3, keeping them third in their group behind New Zealand and Lebanon.
Banner image from FIBA Basketball World Cup on Twitter.