Gilas Pilipinas bounces back with rout of India in Fiba Asia Cup

Gilas Pilipinas’ Will Navarro. –FIBA BASKETBALL

MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas leaned on the efficient shooting of William Navarro and Thirdy Ravena to blast India, 101-59, and secure a spot in the next round of the 2022 Fiba Asia Cup on Friday at Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Navarro led the Philippines’ balanced attack with game-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting including two three-pointers, coming off the bench in 16 minutes and 47 seconds of play to bounce back from their 80-95 defeat to Lebanon two days ago.

Ravena, who suffered an eye injury from a face-first landing last Wednesday, showed no signs of pain, contributing 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting to go with five rebounds, two steals, and an assist as Gilas improved to a 1-1 record in Group D.

The Philippines will wrap up its Group D stint against New Zealand on Sunday at 9 p.m. (Manila time).

“We wanted to come into this ball game and make sure we come up with better performance than our last game. That’s number one, to be able to play at our level, at a certain level,” said Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes.

“I must admit we started the game pretty rough. But the players were able to recover and I thought we were able to put a lot of pressure on the other team. We knew that if we prevent this from becoming a halfcourt game, then it will increase our chances of winning.”

Thirdy Ravena leads Gilas Pilipinas vs India. –FIBA BASKETBALL

The Filipinos erupted with 31 points in the third quarter, holding the Indians to just four points for over nine minutes. Navarro capped a blistering 25-4 run to tally a 39-point lead, 76-37,  putting away the match with 2:03 remaining in the period.

Gilas showed no mercy in the payoff period with Rhenz Abando hitting a trey to build the biggest margin, 42 points, 95-53, with 3:12 to go. RJ Abarrientos maintained the huge lead with his back-to-back triples.

Bobby Ray Parks Jr. was also instrumental with 12 points, four assists, three steals, and two rebounds, while Abando was 3-of-4 from deep, adding 10 markers.

Rookie big man Kevin Quiambao had a brilliant passing night, dishing out nine of the team’s 23 assists. He also posted six points, three rebounds, and a steal.

Gilas averted a slow start from a 13-all deadlock in the opening period with Ravena’s jumper capping a 7-0 run for a 21-13 lead to end the quarter.

Navarro scored nine of his 18 points in the second quarter with his two free throws mounting a 22-point cushion, 49-27, in the final 49 seconds of the first half.

India suffered its second loss in Group D with Muin Bek Hafeez leading the team with 14 points, while Pranav Prince had 11 points and four rebounds.

The Scores:

PHILIPPINES 101 — Navarro 18, T. Ravena 17, Parks 12, Abando 10, Tamayo 9, Lopez 8, Abarrientos 8, Quiambao 6, Erram 6, Belangel 4, K. Ravena 3, Chiu 0.
INDIA 59 — Hafeez 14, Prince 11, K. Singh 8, Tomar 7, Rawat 6, Sekhon 5, Muthu Krishnan 4, A. Singh 2, Aryan 2, Nayak 0, Goti 0.
Quarters: 20-13, 51-33, 82-43, 101-59.