Smart Gilas Pilipinas nails ticket to FIBA Asia with a rout of Indonesia

MANILA—Smart Gilas Pilipinas earned a ticket to the 26th Fiba Asia Championship after posting a 94-54 beatdown of host Indonesia Friday in the 9th Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) at the BrtiAma Arena Sports Mall in Jakarta.

Gunner Chris Lutz had a field day in the stripe as he went 14-of-15 to wind up with 20 points for the Philippines, while lanky big man Japeth Aguilar finished with 19 points and five rebounds.

The Nationals, parading an ailing line up and sans the PBA reinforcements, jumped to a double digit domination early and never relented on their attacks.

A triple by guard Mark Barroca widened the gap for the Philippines, 60-26, early in the third quarter and there was nothing the Indonesians could do to halt the assault.

Sparingly used forward Dylan Ababou also chipped in 13 markers in the victory which filled up one of the three seats for the Fiba Asia Championship to be held on September 15-25 in Wuhan, China.

“Team played with a lot of energy,” posted skipper Chris Tiu on his Twitter page.

“Hope that would brighten up the rainy and gloomy mood back home,” he added, as Typhoon Falcon did its damage across Metro Manila.

The Philippines tangles with Singapore at 4 p.m. today.

The scores:

SMART GILAS 94—Lutz 20, Aguilar 19, Ababou 13, Douthit 11, Casio 8, Baracael 7, Barroca 6, Tiu 6, Ballesteros 4.
INDONESIA 54—Poedjakesuma 10, Muhammad Thoyib 8, Prawiro 8, Indrawan 6, Prihantono 5, Wuysang 5, Situmorang 4, Dewanto 2, Ahmad 2, Gunawan 2, Setepu 2, Chandra 0.

Quarters: 20-9, 49-22, 71-28, 94-54.