MANILA, Philippines – Smart-Gilas Pilipinas defeated Chinese-Taipei in the quarterfinals of the ongoing FIBA Asia Championship, 95-78.
Naturalized Filipino Marcus Douthit led Gilas with 37 points.
Ranidel de Ocampo and Marcio Lassiter chipped in with 18 and 13 points, respectively.
Gilas led by 3 points at halftime before breaking away in the third quarter, leading as much as 15 points.
In the final quarter, Gilas had the biggest lead of the game at 19 points before Taipei made a final push in the last few minutes of the game.
Taipei came as close as 7 points before Gilas put them away for good in the final 2 minutes.
The win sent Gilas to a semi-finals match against Jordan.
The Philippine team defeated Jordan, 72-64, earlier in the tournament.
Jordan made it to the semi-finals by ousting defending champion Iran with an 88-84 victory.
The last time a Philippine team made it to the semis in the FIBA Asia Championship was in 1987.