The Gilas Pilipinas national squad who is now undergoing massive preparations in Europe for the highly anticipated Olympic Qualifiers in the Philippines defeated China in Europe under the leadership of Terrence Romeo.
GlobalPort’s playmaker, Terrence Romeo lead his team in finally ending their losing streak in Europe after their victory against Asian powerhouse China in the Imperial City Basketball Touranment at Land Rover Arena in Bologna, Italy.
The Filipinos defeated the Chinese with the final score of 72-69 to cap off its campaign on their European tour. The 24-year-old Terrence Romeo topscored for Gilas Pilipinas with his 18 points, 11 in the fourth quarter including two crucial triples down the stretch.
Naturalized center and Gilas’ most dominant offensive weapon, Andray Blatche added with14 points and 12 boards on their victory against powerhouse China, the same team that defeated the nationals during the FIBA Asia Championships and the first qualifying event for Rio Olypmics.
Aside from Romeo and Blatche, Bacolod pride and one of the country’s deadliest three-point shooting Jeff Chan added with 10 points while Jayson Castro contributed with nine points for the Gilas victory over the Chinese national squad.
The victory of Gilas Pilipinas against China is sweeter according to the team’s management despite the fact that the Chinese squad did not field their top players namely NBA Draft pick Zhou Qi and former NBA Player Yi Jianlian.
For the Gilas Pilipinas team, the complete 12-man official line up in the Manila Qualifier for Rio were fielded by Coach Tab Baldwin. Although the 12-man line up were complete, the team was trimmed down to just 11 players after Ranidel de Ocampo was ejected for altercation during the game.
After more than two weeks in Europe, Gilas Pilipinas will now fly back to Manila and continue its preparations for the Olympic qualifier. The team will take on Turkey again on Friday at Mall of Asia Arena for its last friendly game.