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| FIBA |
By Alex Cerado
CHANGSHA--Call it a major comeback.
After suffering a 73-75 upset against Palestine in their debut yesterday, Gilas Pilipinas showed no mercy and demolished Hong Kong, 101-50, en route to their first win in the FIBA Asia tournament Thursday morning.
Reigning Asia’s best point guard Jayson Castro sparkled for 21 points, five rebounds, and two assists for the Philippines, which had four other players in double figures.
Naturalized center Andray Blatche registered 17 points, while Dondon Hontiveros, Terrence Romeo and Ranidel De Ocampo added 14, 11, and ten respectively.
In the third canto, Castro drained in one of his five three-pointers to give Gilas a comfortable 32-point lead, 55-23. Adam Xu answered back with a jumper in the 6:40 mark, 29-63.
But the Filipinos were just too much for the Hong Kong nationals as Castro unloaded two consecutive bombs from beyond the arc as they never looked back, 75-31.
Earlier in the second quarter, Gilas unleashed an enormous 23-7 rally, highlighted by Dondon Hontiveros’ trey, which gave them a 51-22 advantage at the end of the first half.
Chan Siu-Wing top-scored for Hong Kong in a losing effort with 13 markers.
Philippines, who dominated the defensive end with 62 rebounds, limited Hong Kong to only 38 boards. They likewise finished with 14 shots from beyond-the-arc.
The Filipino cagers now hold a 1-1 win-loss record with one game left to end the first round against Kuwait on Friday at 4:15 p.m.
Box Scores:
Philippines 101-Castro 21, Blatche 17, Hontiveros 14, Romeo 11, De Ocampo 10, Abueva 8, Intal 5, Thoss 4, Pingris 2, Taulava 2, Norwood 0
Hong Kong 50-Chan 13, Reid 11, Wong 7, Xu 6, Lin 5, Au-Yeung 5, Cheng 2, Leung 1, Lee 0, Szeto 0, So 0, Lau 0
Quarterscores: 28-15, 51-22, 83-38, 101-50
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