Gilas blitzes raw Myanmar, faces host today
KUALA LUMPUR – The Gilas Cadets primed themselves up for their match with the host team with a 129-34 rout of Myanmar in the SEA Games men’s basketball competition at the MABA Stadium last night.
After barely beating Thailand, 81-74, Sunday, the Nationals brought the Burmese to school, fashioning a ghastly rout and stay in shape for their game against Malaysia at 6 p.m. tonight.
It was a one-sided showdown performed before a huge crowd – the cheering Filipino fans and the home crowd that came early for the expected battle between Malaysia and Indonesia in women’s play.
Also witnessing the blowout were PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa and PBA board members Alfrancis Chua, Robert Non, Erick Arejola, Raymond Zorrilla and Silliman Sy who flew over from Manila to show their support to Gilas.
TNT KaTropa’s Patrick Gregorio and Meralco’s Ryan Gregorio watched other matches of Filipino athletes backed by the MVP Group of Companies.
“It’s our respect to our opponents, our respect to the game. We could’ve done a different way, but we wanted to play hard and to play our game, hoping the effort carry over to the next game,” said Gilas coach Jong Uichico.
“We’re getting ready for Malaysia especially as they’re the home team with the home crowd. We can’t take them lightly as we can’t take anybody here for granted,” Uichico also said.
They came out with that mindset against Myanmar, thus, ripping them apart in each of the four quarters.
So dominating were the Filipinos they held the Burmese to seven points in the opening quarter, three in the second and six in the next.
Carl Bryan Cruz joined Gilas in this game coming from the FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, but Team Phl still played with an 11-man crew with Baser Amer resting a sore knee.
Raymar Jose top scored with 20 points, Christian Standhardinger collected 12 points and 11 rebounds in yet another double-double game while Cruz contributed 12 markers and four rebounds in his SEAG debut.
Kobe Paras made the most of his longest exposure from their Jones Cup stint, and the 6-foot-5 athletic player showcased rimrattling slams to highlight his 20-point game.