Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 13) — Gilas Pilipinas registered another easy victory in Day 2 of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) Championship.
Less than 24 hours after giving Myanmar a 107-point beatdown, the Filipinos once again proved their might this time recording a 113-66 demolition of Singapore.
Read: Gilas Pilipinas dismantles Myanmar in SEABA opener, 147-40
Calvin Abueva topscored for Gilas coming up with a game-high 16 points in just 17 minutes of play. Andray Blatche and Allein Maliksi each had 14 markers. While Matthew Wright and JuneMar Fajardo chipped in 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Despite the easy victory, Gilas head coach Chot Reyes was not happy with the squad’s defensive efforts in the last 20 minutes of play.
“We wanted to beat our hustle stats form last night, but I don’t think we did it,” Reyes said.
Larry Liew had a team-high 14 points for Singapore.
The Philippines will go up against winless Malaysia on Sunday, May 14 also at the Big Dome.
Reyes described Malaysia as a very tough defending team, composed of young and athletic players.
“I really like their fight, I really like their spunk. We have to come in and be prepared for Malaysia’s style of defending,” Reyes said.
The winner of the SEABA Championship will represent the Southeast Asian region in the FIBA Asia Cup.
The 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.
Quarterscores: 31-9, 63-29, 89-51, 113-66
