James Yap-powered RP team gets pass Chinese-Taipei

Three-point shooting has been long missing in the game of Powerade Team-Pilipinas. However, the team's three-point shooting prowess reappeared just at the right time.

Former PBA MVP James Yap shot a scorching 6-of-11 from beyond the arc and went on to score 23 big points en route to leading Team-Pilipinas to a 77-70 morale-boosting win over the Chinese-Taipei in the on-going 25th FIBA-Asia men’s basketball championship in Tianjin, China. The win gave the nationals a 3-1 record and is one win away from making it to the top eight of Asia's most disputed tournament. The nationals first tasted the lead in the third quarter as Yap converted three straight three-point shots in one stretch. They close out the third quarter with their biggest lead of 18 points courtesy of a buzzer-beating trey by JayJay Helterbrand but Taipei made a huge rally in the fourth, slowly crawling back to the game and grabbing the lead with about five minutes left in the pay-off period. From there ace point guard Willie Miller took over burying crucial shots the last of which was the dagger of a trey with 13.7 to go. Miller all in all scored 17 points and went perfect from beyond the arc, making five out of five also the nationals shot a combined 15-of-30 from the three-point territory. Team-Pilipinas will next go up against defending champion Iran on Tuesday and Kuwait on Wednesday, hoping to win at least one of their last two remaining assignments to enter the quarterfinals.