Gilas manhandles Taipei in FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers

Posted by watchmen
February 27, 2024
Posted in SPORTS

 

Gilas Pilipinas’ Japeth Aguilar scores on a two-handed dunk. (FIBA photo)
Gilas Pilipinas’ Japeth Aguilar scores on a two-handed dunk. (FIBA photo)

By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Gilas Pilipinas cruised to a dominant 106-53 victory over Chinese-Taipei to perfect the first window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City on Sunday night, February 25.

Justin Brownlee led the way with a double-double of 26 points and 13 rebounds to go with five assists, two blocks and a steal as the national men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 in the qualifiers.

Kai Sotto also ended with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds along with five assists and three blocks, while Calvin Oftana, Dwight Ramos, Carl Tamayo, and Kevin Quiambao ended with 13, 12, 11, and 10 markers, respectively.

Gilas Pilipinas surged to a 9-5 start behind five straight points from Brownlee and connections from Sotto and Ramos, but Chinese-Taipei responded with their inside hits to tie the score at 9-all.

Gilas Pilipinas got conversions from Brownlee and Sotto to establish an 18-13 lead before pulling away further to 26-13 on consecutive connections from Ramos to end the first quarter.

The Philippine men’s basketball team pulled away further from the second quarter onwards, with Sotto and Ramos dominating the offense as the lead reached as high as 53 points late in the game.

Brownlee stated after the game that the national men’s basketball team showed promise in the first two games under head coach Tim Cone, particularly the younger players Quiambao, Tamayo, Ramos, and Sotto.

“Our team has a ton of potential, especially the young guys, like Kai, Carl, Dwight, Kevin — all the young guys. The future is in their hands,” Brownlee said.

“For me, as a veteran, I am just here to help these guys as much as I can,” he said.

“Moving forward, we will try to win every game as much as we can. As what coach Tim was always preaching — share the ball, that is what we are working on in this window,” he added.

Cheng Liu was the lone double-digit scorer for Chinese-Taipei with 13 points, including three three-point conversions, as they suffered their second consecutive defeat after also bowing to New Zealand, 89-69, on February 22./ASC, WDJ

 

PHILIPPINES 106 — Brownlee 26, Sotto 18, Oftana 13, Ramos 12, Tamayo 11, Quiambao 10, Aguilar 8, Perez 4, Thompson 2, Newsome 2.

CHINESE-TAIPEI 53 — Liu 13, S. Lin 8, Z. Hsieh 6, Wang 6, Chang 4, B. Lin 3, C. Lin 3, Chen 2, Yu 2, Gao 2, S. Hsieh 2, C. Lin 2.

Quarterscores: 26-13, 52-27, 82-41, 106-53.

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