The Philippine men’s national basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas, cruised to a 115-81 domination over Thailand and clinched gold at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games last Tuesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
June Mar Fajardo posted a double-double for the Philippines with 17 points and 13 rebounds, Christian Standhardinger and LA Tenorio each had 16 points, while Vic Manuel and Matthew Wright each ended up with 14.
From a seesaw battle early in the opening period, Gilas created distance behind inside conversions from Standhardinger and June Mar Fajardo for a 25-17 edge. Their lead then grew to 31-19 after back-to-back triples by Tenorio and Kiefer Ravena.
The Philippines went into halftime up 48-39.
Gilas Pilipinas surged ahead in the third period as outside conversions from Tenorio, Wright, and Chris Ross, along with inside hits from Fajardo, allowed them to break the game wide open at 88-54.
The host team made sure their opponents could not make a final push as consecutive conversions from Tenorio and Manuel further increased their lead./ASC, WDJ