Gilas Pilipinas storms past a gritty Japan NT, 75-60, in the William Jones Cup 2015 in Taipei Taiwan. Terrence Romeo once again made strides to help Pilipinas Basketball dominate a hard-nosed Japan by dropping 16 Points. Moala Tautuaa, who made 10 Points, exploded in the fourth quarter and lead the pivotal charge of the Philippine Basketball Team to clinch its third victory over a game Japan. Ranidel “RDO” De Ocampo chipped-in 10 Points, while Gabe “Mr. President” Norwood and Gary “El Granada” David made 9 and 8 for Gilas Pilipinas.

The final score belies the rough and tough gameball that Japan and RP Five battled over with. Japan stayed with the Philippines until the final frame, until Romeo pressed on attacking the slower Japanese, this together with the revelation in Tautuaa who broke the game wide open in the closing minutes. Moala showed defensive tenacity to contain Japanese giant Joji Takeuchi, and showed uncanny dribbling and passing skills for a big man. He capped his top game by dropping two runaway slam dunks in the same quarter.

Pilipinas Basketball converted 12 of 34 treys for a 35% compared to Japan’s 5 of 16. The Pinoy dribblers also muscled their way in the Rebounds 45 and in Assists 15, to Japan’s 33 and 10.

In the third frame, Philippines made better in Rebounds and Assists 32 to 26 and 12 to 6.

Romeo led Pilipinas at the half with seven points, this despite coming off the bench. Philippines made 38.7% in fieldgoals to Japan’s 34.4%. RP Five outrebounded their opponent with 20 Rebounds to 15, and outpassed with 8 Assists to 4.

In the first quarter, Philippines made 33.3% fieldgoal clip opposite Japan, and also outrebounded the East Asians 10 to 13. RP however, missed several treys for a 12.5% threepoint shooting compared to Japan’s 33.3%.