If not for their great start, the result of the game could have gone the other way.

Most of the heavy lifting were done by Jayson Castro who filed the stat sheet with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal in just 29 minutes, and Andray Blatche who finished with 13 points, where 6 of those points are from the three-point line, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 3 shot blocks.

Gilas next assignment will be the visiting Chinese Taipei on Monday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum at 7:00 in the evening.

The scores:
PHILIPPINES 77 – Castro William 20, Blatche 13, Wright 12, Norwood 10, Fajardo 6, Aguilar 5, Abueva 5, Pogoy 5, Ravena 1, Alas 0, Rosario 0

JAPAN 71 – Hiejima 20, Brown 10, Tanaka 10, Togashi 8, Baba 7, Harimoto 7, Shinoyama 4, J. Takeuchi 3, Ota 2, Furukawa 0, Uto 0

Per quarter scores: 1st: 18-10, 2nd:37-28, 3rd: 59-55, 4th: 77-71