Gilas Pilipinas rolls on to second win at Singapore’s expense

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – It was not the massive blowout similar to Myanmar’s 24 hours ago, but it was a lopsided victory nonetheless.

Gilas Pilipinas rolled to its second straight victory, making quick work of Singapore, 113-66, in the 2017 SEABA Men’s Championship on Saturday, May 13 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Calvin Abueva once again shined coming off the bench with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Andray Blatche added 14 points and 9 rebounds wihle Allein Maliksi likewise had 14 markers.

The Philippines appeared to have settled down against Singapore – which proved a better foe than Myanmar – lessening sloppy plays while concentrating on executing their sets. The Filipinos led by as many as 51 points late in the contest.

The team looked more locked in as the Singaporeans still had 5 players in double figures led by guard Wong Wei Long’s 12 points, including 6 rebounds and two assists.

Determined to execute, Singapore remained as aggressive as possible all throughout. Coach Chot Reyes was particularly unhappy about his team’s second half effort.

“We had a very poor second half hustle-wise, effort-wise, I’m not sure it could beat last night’s numbers (hustle stats),” said Reyes, who called his first timeout of the tournament in this game.

“We have to remain disciplined to be prepared for the tougher games ahead.”

Gilas is gunning for a gold medal in this tournament in order to qualify for the FIBA Asia Cup in August and the Asian Qualifiers in November. To win, the Philippines need only to hold the best record at tournament’s end.

The Filipinos’ next assignment is Malaysia on Sunday, May 14 at 7 pm.

“Malaysia is a very tough defending team, they’re very young but they’re long and athletic,” noted Reyes.

“I really like their fight, I really like their spunk. So we have to come in and be prepared for Malaysia’s style of defending.”

Scores:

Philippines (113): Abueva 16, Blatche 14, Maliksi 14, Wright 13, Fajardo 11, Romeo 9, Pogoy 9, Rosario 9, Almazan 8, Jalalon 6, Aguilar 4, Castro William 0.

Singapore (66): Liew 14, Wong 12, Kwek 11, Ng HB 11, D. Goh 10, J. Ng 4, Cheok 2, Lim JY 1, Chia 1, J. Lim 0.

Quarter scores: 31-9, 63-29, 89-51, 113-66.

– Rappler.com