Chinese-Taipei forced Gilas on the ropes in the first half with its hot outside shooting, but once the Filipinos tightened their defense the tide began to change. Courtesy of FIBA website

June Mar Fajardo scored 22 points, Jayson Castro added 15 and Gilas Pilipinas overcame a slow start to beat Chinese-Taipei 93-71 at Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium on Friday in their qualifying game for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

With the win, the Philippines upped its record to 4-1, setting up a key match-up against Australia with first place in Group B at stake.

Australia, stunned 79-78 by Japan in Chiba city early in the night, dropped to 4-1.

The Gilas-Boomers game is at Philippine Arena in Bulacan on Monday.

After grabbing the lead early, Chinese-Taipei fell by double digits to the superior Gilas side but remained a threat until midway through the fourth quarter.

After a 3-pointer by Cheng-Ju Lu closed the gap to 78-69 with 6:31 left in the game, the visitors asserted themselves on both ends of the floor from that point on, closing the game on a 15-2 run to sweep their home-and-away series with Chinese-Taipei.

Andray Blatche finished with a double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds) to go with 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, while Terrence Romeo, returning after missing 2 games for Gilas, contributed 14 points and 6 assists.

Chinese-Taipei forced Gilas on the ropes in the first half with its hot outside shooting, but once the Filipinos tightened their defense the tide began to change.

Trailing 33-26 in the second quarter, the Filipinos closed out the half with an 18-4 run, limiting Chinese-Taipei to just one field in 6 minutes to go up 44-37 at the break.

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