MANILA, Philippines — Terrence Romeo once again provided the heroics and the highlights for Philippine national men's basketball team Gilas Pilipinas.
The nationals defeated New Zealand's Wellington Saints, 84-81, to climb to 2-0 in the 2015 MVP Cup on Saturday, September 12 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Romeo poured 14 of his 18 points in the final period as Gilas Pilipinas overturned a 13-point deficit for another come-from-behind victory against the Kiwis.
(WATCH: New Zealand team performs Haka dance before Gilas match)
Romeo had 4 triples in the game and every one of them came in the crucial fourth quarter. This was the first one.
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And another.
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And again.
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After this fourth one – the shot that gave Gilas the lead for good at 78-76 with 3:03 remaining – the sizeable Araneta Coliseum completely lost it.
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The 23-year old guard also had his hand in the crucial ensuing play as he dished off a pass to veteran Jayson Castro on the break for the two that padded the Philippines' edge, 82-79.
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Finally, with the Saints trailing by just 82-81 with 8.5 ticks left, Romeo made up for 4 consecutive missed free throws with two that notched the final tally.
Naturalized big man Andray Blatche was also productive in the win with 16 points and 9 rebounds. He even had a little argument with Wellington's Bryan Davis as seen below in this final clip.
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<blockquote class="twitter-video" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here's what happened with Andray Blatche and Saints' Davis <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MVPCup?src=hash">#MVPCup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/rapplerdotcom">@rapplerdotcom</a> <a href="http://t.co/z1wrvqy05b">pic.twitter.com/z1wrvqy05b</a></p>— Jane Bracher (@janebracher) <a href="https://twitter.com/janebracher/status/642659713117609986">September 12, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Gilas will have Chinese-Taipei for its final opponent in the MVP Cup on Sunday, September 13. — Rappler.com