As expected, Gilas Pilipinas will advance to the semifinals of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Coming off a 79-68 beatdown at the hands of Camdobia, the Philippines dropped the hammer on Singapore with a dominant 105-45 wire-to-wire victory to formalize its entry to the next round on Saturday at Morodok Techo Stadium.
The Philippines ended Group A play with a 2-1 record for the second seed in the group.
By virtue of their win over Gilas, Cambodia will be the top seed despite still having a game against Malaysia (1-1) later in the day.
Now, Gilas will await the winner of the Group B game between Indonesia and Thailand on Sunday.
The knockout semis will take place on Monday with the Philippines’ game set at 6:00 p.m. (Philippine time).
And Chot Reyes’ men did not let up from start to finish.
CJ Perez and Gilas went full steam ahead right from tip-off, racing to a 21-0 start capped by a Jerom Lastimosa trey.
Two free throws by Kelvin Lam with 3:28 left in the quarter put Singapore up on the board but the Filipinos were relentless, ending the quarter with a 29-5 lead.
It was a show of force for Gilas afterward as all of the 11 players fielded poured it on the hapless Singaporeans, leading by as many as 63 points in the contest.
Marcio Lassiter led six Gilas players in double-figures with 16 points built on four treys while Perez tallied a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Justin Brownlee, Lastimosa, and Michael Phillips all got 12 apiece with the naturalized Filipino also dishing out eight assists in 19 minutes of action while the La Salle big man hauled down nine boards.
Brandon Rosser added 10 points while Arvin Tolentino chipped in nine markers.
Shi Yu Ng was the sole double-digit scorer for Singapore with 10 as a collective, they went just 17-of-36 from the field while also getting outrebounded 57 to 26.
The Scores:
Philippines 105 – Lassiter 16, Perez 13, Brownlee 12, Lastimosa 12, Phillips 12, Ganuelas-Rosser 10, Tolentino 9, Newsome 7, Standhardinger 7, Amos 4, Ross 3.
Singapore 45 – Shi 10, Lim J 8, Chiam 8, Ng Ju 6, Lim K 4, Zhi 3, Qing 2, Ng Jo 2, Duanyung 2, Rengarajan 0.
Quarterscores: 29-5, 56-19, 86-34, 105-45.
