INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines?The Smart Gilas-Pilipinas five settled for a 73-73 standoff with Australia?s second national team in their rematch Wednesday in Canberra.

The nationals had a 73-70 lead with the clock winding down but Anthony Drmic struck with a triple with 15 seconds left as the Aussies avoided a second straight defeat.

The Filipinos beat the same team, 79-73, Tuesday after a 78-67 win over the Australian Under-19 squad Monday.

Gilas was playing the Canberra Gunners Thursday night. The Filipinos will next face NSWIS on Friday and a club team from Sydney on Sunday before heading home.

Chris Tiu paced Gilas with 20 points, including three triples. The Gilas skipper also went seven of eight from the charity stripe and came up with three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Seven-footer Greg Slaughter, the youngest Gilas player at 22, added 13 points and seven rebounds.

Japeth Aguilar chipped in 12 while co-captain Mark Barroca and JR Cawaling had nine and seven points, respectively, for the Nationals, who are seeking the lone Asian slot to the 2012 London Olympics through the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship qualifying.

The scores:

SMART GILAS 73?Tiu 20, Slaughter 13, Aguilar 12, Barroca 9, Cawaling 7, Lassiter 5, Jazul 5, Baracael 2.

AIS TEAM 73?Drmic 18, Bairstow 13, Odigie 10, Hadziomerovic 8, Baldridge 7, Fenton 6, Cadee 4, McCarron 4, Thomas 2, Rowe 1

Quarters: 19-16, 34-32, 52-53, 73-all