By MARK REY MONTEJO
Noy Remogat displayed steely nerves and helped power Gilas Pilipinas to a pulsating 21-19 victory over China in the second stop of the FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations League at the Fengfeng Mining Area Museum in Handan Shi, Tuesday, June 11.
Remogat, a new UP Maroon, sank a step-back deuce to clinch the victory with still 16.5 second left, stunning the hometown crowd and gave the Nationals their first win in the regional competition.
The 5-foot-10 combo guard scored five of his six points down the stretch after the Philippines went down, 15-18, with under two minutes left.
Art Roque and Patrick Sleat cashed in 9 and 5 points, respectively, while Wei Zhang topscored with 10 for China in a losing effort.
However, their winning moment was spoiled after losing to Japan, 21-17, in their second game.
Haruaki Tanaka showed the way for the Japanese as he listed eight points while Takumi Shimokawa put up six.
Sleat tried to rally the Filipinos with his seven points along Remogat’s four but still wasn’t able to overcome the powerhouse Japan and give them a 1-1 card at second place in Men’s Pool B.
Meanwhile, Gilas women, which is composed of Karl Ann Pingol, Angelica Surada, Kristine Cayabyab and Camille Clarin, suffered a wire-to-wire loss to China (19-16) and Japan (20-14).
They plummeted to 0-2 in Women’s Pool B.
The FIBA 3×3 tournament, which inaugurated its first season in 2017, attracted 73 teams in both genders who come from 47 national federations across five continents.
