Philippines opens Asiad with rout of Kazakhstan

The Philippines opened up its campaign in the group stages with a dominant 96-59 beating of Kazakhstan in the 2018 Asian Games Thursday at GBK Basketball Hall in Jakarta.

The Filipinos will next face China in Group D and will need to finish in the top two of the pool to advance to quarterfinals.

Stanley Pringle put up a game-high 18 points, on 6-of-9 shooting, to lead the Filipinos who played without Jordan Clarkson who only arrived in Jakarta on the day of the game.

After a 16-9 first quarter, the Filipinos upped the ante in the second quarter and outscored the Kazakhs 25-11 to take a 41-20 lead heading into the half.

Asi Taulava then made it a 30-point game, 84-54, when he hit an easy layup with 4:05 remaining in the game.

Christian Standhardinger had 15 points for the Philippines while James Yap had 12 points and six rebounds.

Anton Bykov led Kazakhstan with 13 points and five rebounds.