The Gilas Pilipinas upended Saudi Arabia, 77-61, to even its record in the 10th King Abdullah Cup, Tuesday evening at the Prince Hamza Sport Hall in Amman, Jordan.

Justine Baltazar led the charge for the Philippine team as he scored 16 points, highlighted by a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc. The Gilas is now at 1-1 following their opening day loss to Egypt. Naturalized player Ange Kouame and Isaac Go each had 10 markers for the Gilas as well.

The Gilas broke the game wide open in the second period with Baltazar canning a couple of triples to help them lead, 43-26, at halftime. It was all Gilas in the second half as the lead ballooned to a high of 20 after Dwight Ramos sank a layup with 6:44 to go in the game.

Saudi Arabia tried to make a game out of it as they trimmed the deficit to 10, 59-69, but Cebuano forward Carl Tamayo sank a triple with 2:57 left to push their lead to 13. (JNP)