MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas seems to have a thing for controversies.
The Filipinos earned an 82-73 win via default after Jordan walked out from their tuneup game with more than 6 minutes left on Wednesday, November 21, at the Meralco Gym in Pasig following a verbal altercation between the head coaches.
Philippine coach Yeng Guiao and Jordan mentor Joey Stiebing figured in a heated war of words with 6:26 minutes left after a visiting player tossed the ball to Scottie Thompson during a deadball.
The two tacticians were seen shouting at each other before Stiebing, his coaching staff and players left for the locker room and did not finish the game.
Team Pilipinas trailed by as much as 19 points in the 2nd quarter no thanks to Jordan's hot-shooting before undergoing a major revamp in the 3rd period, where it finally took the upper hand.
Gilas completed the comeback behind a five-point play that saw LA Tenorio drill in a triple and June Mar Fajardo, who was fouled during the play, sink his freebies for a 58-57 advantage.
The Filipino never relinquished the lead until the game was prematurely ended in the 4th quarter.
Thirteen of the 20-man Gilas pool saw action as Ginebra stars Tenorio, Thompson, Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar and Stanley Pringle returned to the fold.
Jayson Castro, Ricci Rivero, Troy Rosario, Poy Erram, Paul Lee, Ian Sangalang and Kai Sotto did not play. – Rappler.com
