By JAY R. GOTERA
MANILA — Gilas Pilipinas had another walk in the park, rolling past Singapore, 113-66, in the 2017 SEABA Men’s Championship at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum Saturday night, to post its second straight lopsided win.
Singapore provided a tougher challenge than Myanmar, which Gilas defeated by 107 points on Friday at the start of the qualifier for the FIBA Asia Cup in August.
The Singaporeans nearly even matched the Filipinos’ scoring output in the third quarter, with Gilas only outscoring them by four points, 26-22.
But this hardly mattered as the Filipinos already built up a huge lead in the first half. Instead of coasting to victory in the final quarter, Gilas stepped on the gas to pad their lead to as many as 51 points, 113-62.
Calvin Abueva once again led Gilas with 16 points on top of five rebounds, and three assists in just 17 minutes coming off the bench.
Four other Gilas players scored in double digits with Andray Blatche and Allein Maliksi posting 14 points apiece while Matthew Wright and Jun Mar Fajardo added 13 and 11 markers, respectively.
Terrence Romeo, Roger Pogoy, and Troy Rosario finished with 9 points each while Raymond Almazan and Jio Jalolon chipped 8 and 6 points, respectively. Only Jayson Castro failed to score, missing his lone shot. However, he had five assists, one board, and one steal in 16 minutes as a starter.
Larry Liew led five Singaporeans in double figures with 14 points, including four three-pointers.
Indonesia 63, Malaysia 42
Indonesia turned up the heat late in the game to blow past Malaysia, 63-42, to post its second straight win.
Malaysia absorbed a second straight loss after their opening day defeat to Thailand.
The Indonesians led all the way but had some scary moments in the third quarter when the Malaysians went on a 10-0 run to come to within five points, 37-42.
But Indonesia regrouped in the final quarter and went on a 19-5 run to take the fight out of the Malaysians.
Damar Grahita fired 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting along with three boards, and three steals to lead the Indonesians.
Thailand 76, Vietnam 49
Thailand walloped debuting Vietnam, 76-49, for its second straight win in the tournament.
The Thais played minus their star guard Chitchai Ananti, who suffered a leg injury in the team’s opening-day win against Malaysia Friday. This hardly mattered though as Kannut Samerjai stepped up to lead Thailand with 14 points, including four three-pointers, on top of four assists in just 16 minutes. Wutipong Dasom added 11 points in 14 minutes.
The Thais started hot, taking a 22-6 lead in the first quarter. They padded their lead to 28 points, 52-24, in the third quarter, before coasting to victory in the final period.
Games Sunday: Thailand (2-0) vs. Indonesia (2-0); Myanmar (0-1) vs. Vietnam (0-1); and Malaysia (0-2) vs. Philippines (2-0).
