By JAY R. GOTERA
MANILA — Gilas Pilipinas found itself trailing for the very first time in the 2017 SEABA Championship after Malaysia scored the first two points of the game, but that only lasted for 17 seconds as the Filipinos once again dominated both ends of the court, clobbering the Malaysians, 106-51, on Sunday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Filipino dribblers answered the first Malaysian basket with a 13-0 blast on their way to their third straight runaway victory, increasing their average winning margin to 69.6 points after three games.
All 12 Gilas players scored with Andray Blatche and Troy Rosario leading the pack with 13 points apiece. The naturalized center added 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Matthew Wright and Terrence Romeo added 12 points each, while Roger Pogoy and Jayson Castro chipped in 10 markers apiece.
Calvin Abueva, the top scorer in the Filipinos’ first two games, finished with nine points, the last on a three-pointer that gave Gilas its biggest lead at 57 points, 103-46, late in the game.
Yee Heng scored 12 points in 22 minutes off the bench to lead the Malaysians.
The team with the best record wins the championship and qualifies for the FIBA Asia Cup in August and the Asian Qualifiers in November.
Gilas takes a rest Monday before taking on Thailand Tuesday.
Vietnam 77, Myanmar 44
Vietnam blasted Myanmar, 77-44, to bounce back from the sound beating it got against Thailand on Saturday.
Myanmar put up a fight in the third quarter, outscoring Vietnam, 15-10, in that period. But that proved to be all that it could do as the Vietnamese went on a tear to break the game wide open.
Van Hung Nguyen paced Vietnam with 22 points on 11-of-18 shooting along with 15 boards, and three assists. Vu Tran added 18 points, three boards, and three assists.
Wanna Aung led Myanmar with 21 points, including two three-pointers.
Indonesia 60, Thailand 59
Indonesia eked out a 60-59 win over Thailand with Mario Wuysang scoring the winning basket on a step-back jumper with 11 seconds left in the game.
The Indonesians thus posted their third straight win while dealing the Thais their first loss in three games.
Wuysang finished with just seven points, after missing seven of his first nine shots. This did not deter him from firing the last shot for his team, which was down, 58-59, with the clock winding down.
After Wuysang’s basket, the Thais still had a chance to steal the game, but Nattakarn Muangboon committed a turnover off a timeout that spelled doom for his team.
Sandy Kurniawan was the top scorer for Indonesia with 17 points, including five three-pointers.
Chitchai Ananti, who missed Thailand’s last game after suffering a leg injury, led the Thais with 24 points in a losing effort.
Games Monday: Thailand (2-1) vs. Myanmar (0-2); Singapore (0-2) vs. Malaysia (0-2); and Indonesia (3-0) vs. Vietnam (1-1).
