MANILA: Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes has been wondering all along what Paul Lee can do in an international basketball arena.

In just his first game as a national player, the 6-foot-1 point guard gave Reyes a boat-load of answers.

Playing with the maiden name of his mother, Dalistan, because of international rules accepting only names on passports, Lee on Saturday night led the Filipinos to a vengeful 78-64 decision of Chinese-Taipei that got Gilas Pilipinas’ Fiba-Asia Cup bid off on a high note at the Wuhan Gym in China.

The former PBA Rookie of the Year, who shunned offers from the original Gilas program back in 2007 while he was still with the University of the East in the UAAP, connected on 4-of-7 triple tries to finish with 18 points and lead the Filipinos to the win that somehow avenged a 84-79 loss in the World Cup Qualifying in Manila last August.

It was a sweet victory for the Filipinos, who thus zoomed to the Group B lead as Taiwan dropped to 1-1.

Tournament format calls for the top four teams in each of the two groups to advance to the quarterfinals, and with Uzbekistan withdrawing at the 11th hour, the Filipinos are assured of marching on whatever happens.

But the Philippines, using this tournament to try out Lee and three other newcomers while leaving six regulars back home, didn’t take anything for granted.

Chinese-Taipei, which defeated Jordan on Friday night, dropped to 1-1.

The Filipinos take a day off Sunday before clashing with lowly Singapore on Monday and then the Jordanians the following day.

Rajko Toroman, the Serbian who was the first coach of the Gilas-Pilipinas program, is handling the Jordanians.

Host China and Iran, which won this tournament in 2012 in Tokyo, Japan, the Japanese and India are in Group B.

Down, 44-50 near the end of the third period, Lee drained one of his triples to end the quarter and then nailed another to open the fourth as the Philippines tied it all up at 50 before completing a 23-6 surge that put the game beyond reach of the Taiwanese.

LA Tenorio, the Jones Cup MVP when the Philippines won the tournament in Taiwan n 2012, capped an 11-point night with a layup to finish that tear as the Filipinos zoomed to a 67-56 lead heading into the final 2:54.

Marc Pingris, Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, Larry Fonacier, Jimmy Alapag and top Asian point guard Jason Castro were given time to rest their limbs by Reyes, who brought along Lee, Beau Belga, Jay Washington and Jared Dillinger to see how they would fare.

The Taiwanese were also without some of the players that defeated the Philippines in Manila last August.

Quincy Davis III, Taiwan’s well-built naturalized citizen, was held to seven points by Marcus Douthit, who finished with 16 rebounds and eight markers as the Filipinos mangled the Taiwanese off the boards, 48-36.

Also not making the trip for the Philippines was Andray Blatche, the NBA veteran who was recently naturalized as a Filipino to play in the World Cup in Spain and in the Asian Games in Inchon, South Korea in September.

Blatche couldn’t leave the United States because he is negotiating for a new NBA contract after opting out of his final two years with the Brooklyn Nets.

Gary David was also superb offensively, chipping in with 16 points on three triple conversions as he and Lee were on the court when the Filipinos mounted that breakaway.

Gilas actually had a 16-point lead early in the second period but saw this vanish in the face of the Taiwanese’s hard-nosed stand.