Belo lifts Gilas past Kazakhstan

Mac Belo. Photo by Fiba.com

Gilas Pilipinas chalked in its breakthrough win in the 2016 Fiba Asia Challenge, routing Kazakhstan, 98-86 Tuesday in Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran, Iran.

Mac Belo carried the Philippines with a huge double-double performance, tallying 30 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

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Ed Daquioag also fired 17 markers and four dimes, while Russel Escoto added 12 points.

Gilas 5.0 started the game on fire, holding a 25-10 lead and kept pounding on the Kazakhs, with Mike Tolomia giving the Philippines its biggest lead at 17, 65-48 with a trey at the 4:16 mark of the third period.

Kazakhstan, though, would roar back and fire an 18-5 run to cut the deficit to just four, 70-66 to start the fourth, before Belo took over and put the game out of reach.

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The Philippines pounded Kazakhstan from beyond the arc, going 9-of-22 from rainbow country against the Kazakh’s 1-of-19 shooting, with its lone conversion coming from Ibragim Konyssov with 10.1 seconds left in the game.

Gilas (1-3) ends its campaign against Jordan (2-1) tomorrow, with the team still hoping to crack at the top four of Group E and make it to the quarterfinals.

Kazakhstan, meanwhile, has formally been eliminated after going winless in four games.

Mikhail Yevstigneyev topped the Kazakhs with 23 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out in the payoff period.

Pavel Ilin had 18 markers, while Nikolay Bazhkin registered 17 points and 18 boards in the loss. RAM

The Scores:

PHILIPPINES 98 – Belo 30, Daquioag 17, Escoto 12, Ferrer 8, Perez 7, Cruz 6, Javier 6, Tolomia 6, Pogoy 3, Gotladera 2, Van Opstal 1, Pessumal 0.

KAZAKHSTAN 86 – Yevstigneyev 23, Ilin 18, Bazhkin 17, Micheev 17, Kuanov 4, Konyssov 3, Kozhanov 2, Savchenko 2, Gubashev 0, Maidekin 0.

Quarters: 27-15, 47-37, 70-66, 98-86.

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