RP five two wins away from title

NANAN, China — Three down, two to go for the Philippines.

The Philippines hurdled another major obstacle in its title-retention bid, beating Guangdong, 97-71, for its third straight win in the sixth Zheng Chenggong Cup international men’s basketball tournament at the Nanan Sports center here Wednesday.

The Filipinos, whose campaign here is being supported by FedEx and Burlington, need only to win over Indonesia on Thursday and Hong Kong on Friday to wrap up the prestigious title, which they first won in 1999.

"The boys are really determined to bring home the title as a fitting follow-up to our triumph in the SEA Games," said head coach Johny Tam, who rose to prominence by leading the Bobby Parks-reinforced Laguna Lakers to the title four years ago.

"Magandang pamasko ito sa atin," added Tam.

Ricky Ricafuente, Danny Capobres, John Ferriols, Britt Reroa and Ryan Bernardo delivered the key baskets for the Filipinos, who needed two long scoring splurges bridging the third and fourth quarters to beat Guangdong.

Ricafuente scored 15 of his team-high 20 points in the second half, including five three-point shots, to lead the Filipinos’ decisive breakaway in the face of the Chinese’s determined stand.

Capobres, one of three FedEx players in the lineup, threw his weight around the shaded area and came away with 14 of his 16 points in another brilliant support job.

Ferriols also finished with 16 points, while Reroma and Bernardo contributed 15 points apiece to underscore the Filipinos’ balanced scoring.

The Filipinos played without Philippine College of Criminology playmaker Jun Gabica, who is nursing an injured finger during the game against Nanan.

Another key player, Mark Macapagal, fouled out with still seven minutes left in the third period.

Bothered by Guangdong’s near-flawless outside shooting and razor-sharp ball movement, the Filipinos actually blew a 12-point lead early in the second quarter, 27-15, and fell behind by as many as seven points, 31-38.

The Filipinos also trailed, 38-40, at halftime.

But Ricafuente caught fire in the third period with back-to-back triples and Capobres made his presence felt in the shaded area with eight points as the Filipinos turned a 38-40 deficit into a 61-48 advanatage.

Another 20-4 blast at the start of the fourth quarter, seven of them by Ricafuente, gave the Filipinos an 89-65 lead with only three minutes remaining.

The Chinese, who were limited to only 10 points in the entire fourth period, came no closer than 20 points.

The Filipinos’ next assignment is against Indonesia, one of two teams, which have yet to win a game in three matches.

The big game will be against Hong Kong, which edged Singapore late Wednesday night, to join the Philippines in the lead in this six-team, five-nation tournament being held in honor of Nanan’s famous national hero.