Argentina escaped by a hair’s breadth the herculean Team Gilas Pilipinas with an 85-81 heart-stopping victory. Bigman Luis Scola carried the flag for the World Number 3 with 19 points, while Filipino Jimmy “Mighty Mouse” Alapag nearly dashed the South American hopes with 5 consecutive treys in the fourth quarter. Alapag finished with 15 markers all off rainbow shots, while veteran Ranidel “RDO” Ocampo led RP Five with 18 points. Gabe “Mr. President” Norwood also dazzled the contest with two thunderous highlight dunks, one off a poster opposite Luis Scola and another left flush against Marcos Mata.

The Philippines outscored and outrebounded the Argentinians mostly throughout the game, even leading by three points, 25-22, at the end of the first quarter. The Filipino quintet finished with 48.1% Three point shooting and 52.9% field goals, while Argentina had 45.2% field attempts and a 39.5% beyond the arc percentage. Philippines also collared 39 boards against 35 of Argentina, with majority coming from 15 rebounds of NBA center Andray Blatche.

RP five was one possession of securing a much needed victory against Argentina all thanks to Jimmy Alapag’s five three pointers. Philippines cut a 15 point deficit 53-68 with time running out but NBA veteran Andres Nocioni cleared the way for the South Americans with two converted foul throws in the last 6.6 seconds.

Argentinian Coach Juilo Lamas said of the Filipinos, “They made us look like fools in the first quarter,” and added “The Philippines plays a very strange style of basketball we’ve never seen, and they play to their full potential.” Finally, Lamas stated “This is the most uncomfortable game I had to coach in my life.” A banner headline for Argentina major newspaper Clarin also posted, “Argentina suffered until the end to beat the Philippines.”