Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
No one in the Gilas Pilipinas coaching staff even bothered to stand as the Philippine national team hardly broke a sweat in a 147-40 victory over Myanmar to open its 2017 Seaba Championship campaign Friday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A heavy underdog, Myanmar’s hopes of a monumental upset was quickly crushed in a matter of minutes as Jayson Castro William opened the game for the hosts with a lay-up, triggering a tidal wave of baskets which gave the Philippines a 17-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Merciless from the get-go, Gilas kept its foot on the gas pedal in the ensuing periods.
“I know there’s a lot of things, a lot of talk around this game, and around this campaign. But we just talked about in our pregame that we just need to not worry about the extraneous things that are going on and focus on what we need to do to get the job done,” Gilas head coach Chot Reyes said.
“The only thing that we were really concerned about in this ball game was our hustle numbers. That was our only focus.”
Gilas out-rebounded Myanmar, 57-33, had 25 steals, 12 blocks, and scored 77 fastbreak points in the dominant win.
Calvin Abueva topscored for the Philippines with 22 points, six rebounds, five steals, and four assists, while Allein Maliksi got 20 markers and five boards.
Rookies also impressed in the opening day win, with Roger Pogoy had 17 points, six boards, and four dimes, Jio Jalalon nabbing a double-double of 13 markers, 10 assists, and six rebounds, and Matthew Wright heating up in the second half with 12 points on a 4-of-7 shooting from threes.
Gilas now gears up for its game against Singapore on Saturday.
Wana Aung paced Myanmar with 12 points on 2-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc.
The Scores:
PHILIPPINES 147 – Abueva 22, Maliksi 20, Pogoy 17, Fajardo 14, Jalalon 13, Rosario 13, Wright 12, Aguilar 11, Blatche 11, Romeo 6, Almazan 6, Castro William 2.
MYANMAR 40 – Wana 12, M. P. Aung 8, Zaya 6, P. W. Aung 3, Tin 3, Sai 2, Thant 2, Sei 2, Kaung 2, Wai 0, T. O. Thein 0, H. Thein 0.
Quarters: 32-7, 66-12, 110-29, 147-40.