The Philippines used a stifling backcourt press to generate easy baskets in transition en route to destroying Malaysia, 100-48 Thursday in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
Using a suffocating trap, the Gilas cadets scored basket after basket coming off Malaysia’s turnovers, breaking the game wide open early. Kiefer Ravena and Troy Rosario anchored the early attack, with the former dishing out three of his six assists in the opener while the latter scoring six points.
The Philippines took a 20-9 lead after the first quarter and kept pouncing on Malaysia with their relentless defensive pressure to add on to the lead until the final buzzer.
Almond Vosotros topscored with 21 points, nailing five triples while Rosario finished with 18 points and seven rebounds. Marcus Douthit added 12 points and eight rebounds while Ravena had eight points and dished out six assists.
Ball movement was once again an impressive facet of the game for the Philippines, assisting 24 of its 37 made field goals. Tab Baldwin’s troops also tallied 25 steals as the Malaysian (31 turnovers) was troubled advancing the ball against a suffocating trap.
Ivan Yeo paced the Malaysians with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
The Philippines improved to 2-0 and shall battle Timor Leste tomorrow night.
