Gilas bucks slow start, rips Thailand for 4-0 record

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Gilas Pilipinas bucked a poor start before whipping Thailand, 108-53, in the 2017 Seaba Championship Tuesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Japeth Aguilar sparked a strong in the second quarter, where the Philippines pulled away, turning a four-point lead to a 51-26 buffer.

Aguilar had a perfect game offensively, going 10-of-10 from the field to finish with 23 points, 15 coming in the second period alone.

The athletic forward also had five rebounds and two blocks.

Gilas, which rose to 4-0, faces Vietnam next on Wednesday.

“Our second unit gave us a great lift. Japeth played a hell of a ball game. It was the second unit with Terrence (Romeo), Calvin (Abueva), and Japeth which gave us the separation we needed in this ball game,” said Gilas head coach Chot Reyes.

Abueva had 15 markers, six assists, two boards, and two steals, while Romeo contributed 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from threes.

Naturalized player Andray Blatche got 11 markers, seven rebounds, and two rejections.

Reyes commended the way Gilas’ defensive effort as it shut down Thailand’s leading scorer Chitchai Ananti, who went scoreless, while also limiting Wutipong Dasom to just two points a night after he poured in a tournament-best 40 points against Myanmar.

“We came to this ball game with the defensive focus of stopping (Ananti) because we felt that he was Thailand’s top scorer. He can flat out play and he scores in a lot of ways so we challenged our defenders to lock him down,” he said.

“Roger Pogoy did a great job at the start of the game hounding him, and we wore him down with multiple defenders. I thought it was important to our defensive game plan, to shut down their best scorer and best offensive player.”

Teerawat Chanthachon led Thailand (3-2) with 16 points and seven rebounds and was the lone bright spot in the defeat.

The scores:

PHILIPPINES 108 – Aguilar 23, Abueva 15, Blatche 11, Romeo 11, Fajardo 9, Malicsi 8, Wright 7, Rosario 6, Castro William 6, Jalalon 6, Almazan 4, Pogoy 2.

THAILAND 53 – Chanthachon 16, Muangboon 7, P. Klahan 7, Samerjai 7, Ghogar 6, Sunthonsiri 4, C. Klahan 2, Dasom 2, Boonserm 2, Ananti 0, Jaisanuk 0, Lodliang 0.

Quarters: 18-14, 51-26, 80-43, 108-53.