MANILA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - Philippines bucked a slow start and finished strong to repulse a pesky Chinese Taipei, 90-83, for their second win in the Asian Qualifiers.

The Philippines leaned on the hot shooting of Matthew Wright and RR Pogoy as well as the offensive wizardry of Jayson Castro to unleash a wicked fourth period windup that took the wind out of Taipei's sails. Castro finished with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with 4 assists. Wright drilled all three of his triples in the fourth quarter to finish with 11, while big man June Mar Fajardo had a breakout game with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Taipei started the game like a house on fire, with Quincy Davis leading them to score 17 points in the match's first four minutes. The law of averages caught up with them, though, and Davis ended up with 20 points after fouling out late in the game.

Philippines travel to Australia on 22 February 2018, while Chinese Taipei head to Japan on the same date.

FIBA