Gilas Pilipinas shoots for a second straight win in Group B Monday when the Nationals battle lightly regarded Singapore in the Fiba-Asia Cup preliminaries at Wuhan Gym in Wuhan, China.
Coming off a 78-64 victory over Chinese-Taipei that failed to impress coach Chot Reyes, the Filipinos will come into the 2:45 p.m. contest as the odds-on favorites over the Singaporeans.
Reyes rued sloppy transition plays and the five quick fouls that June Mar Fajardo committed which forced the Filipinos to again go to Marcus Douthit down low.
The firebrand mentor, however, was impressed with the performance of first-time National Paul Lee and the Filipinos’ finishing kick of 31 fourth-quarter points that avenged a loss to the Taiwanese nearly a year ago in the Fiba World Cup qualifying in Manila.
Gilas is already assured of advancing to the eight-team quarterfinals, but marching on with the best record will obviously give the Filipinos better chances at making the Final Four.
After Singapore, the Filipinos battle Jordan and new coach Rajko Toroman Tuesday.
Lee sparked the Filipinos’ mighty finish, shooting 15 of his team-high 18 points in the second half as the Philippines survived the loss of a 16-point first-half lead and won pulling away.
Douthit saw extended minutes because of Fajardo’s foul trouble and contributed 16 rebounds on top of eight points.
The long-time naturalized Philippine team center also limited Chinese Taipei counterpart Quincy Davis to just seven points.
The Taiwanese, Singaporeans, Jordanians and the Filipinos are sure of advancing to the next round after Uzbekistan withdrew at the last moment.
One team will be eliminated in Group A which is made up of China, defending champion Iran, Japan, India and Indonesia.
Iran won this tournament two years ago in Tokyo—where the Philippines finished fourth—even without Hamed Hadadi, the giant NBA veteran who was the thorn on the Filipinos’ side in the championship match of the qualifying event last August in Manila.