Gilas Pilipinas Defeats Japan for 3rd-Straight Win in 2017 William Jones Cup

Gilas Pilipinas are back in championship contention at the 2017 William Jones Cup after scoring a 100-85 victory over Japan on Wednesday at the Taipei Peace International Basketball Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, for their third straight win.

The Philippines, which opened the tournament with a loss to Team Canada 150, has bounced back with a trio of triumphs by double digits to move into a five-way tie for first place. It outscored the Japanese squad 34-19 in the fourth quarter to keep the winning streak alive.

CNN Philippines provided reaction to the Day 4 clash:

Christian Standhardinger led the charge for Gilas with 22 points and 15 rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench. The 28-year-old University of Hawaii product made 10 of his 12 shots from the field and grabbed six offensive boards in the contest.

Matthew Wright added 15 points and four assists as a reserve. In all, the Philippines received 56 of its 100 points from bench players.

Ryan Songalia of Rappler commented on the impact of Standhardinger and Wright:

Mike Myers (17 points and nine rebounds) and Kiefer Ravena (11 points and four assists) were the makeshift side's top performers from the starting lineup.

Yusei Sugiura paced Japan, which has featured most of its U-24 roster in the event, with 22 points. The team fell to 0-4 with the loss.

Philippines head coach Chot Reyes said the team wasn't surprised by the strong effort from the Japanese squad, per Nelson Beltran of the Philippine Star.

"Like in any other elite tournament, there's no such thing as an easy game," he said. "We knew we would be in for a tough match against Japan, and obviously they gave us everything we could handle."

Reyes added: "We're approaching the meat of our schedule, playing Korea and Lithuania back-to-back. But we're focused on Korea. It's going to be a huge mountain for us."

Ultimately, Canada's loss Tuesday to the Chinese Taipei Blue Team—the country has fielded two squads in the tournament—has left the event wide open with five days remaining in the round-robin battle.

Gilas Pilipinas have played much better over the last three days. More consistent production from the starting five moving forward will give the team a realistic shot at the title.

Next up for the Philippines is South Korea on Wednesday.