GILAS Pilipinas shrugged off a slow start and won pulling away against a suddenly hapless foe yesterday.
Propped up by a solid outing from naturalized player Justin Brownlee, the Philippines overwhelmed Bahrain 89-61 to launch its drive on a high in Group C of the cage tourney of the 19th Asian Games at the HOC Olympic Stadium in Hangzhou.
The 6-foot-5 Brownlee, who had surgery to remove bone spurs in his ankle last month, wound up with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Ange Kouame, who joined hands with Brownlee in a big Gilas surge in the second quarter, had 15 markers and seven boards.
CJ Perez, one of five replacement players finally given the go-signal to play hours before the game, also had 15 points while Calvin Oftana was the other player in double-figure for Gilas with 14.
After the surprisingly easy victory, coach Tim Cone stressed the need to prepare for Tyler Lamb and the rest of the Thais, who will be their next opponent on Thursday.
“We didn’t play Thailand in the Southeast Asian Games. But we saw them in the SEA Games, but we were not matched up against them. They were knocked out by Cambodia,” said Cone.
Along with Perez, Cone also fielded in the four other last-minute inclusions — Kevin Alas, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, and Arvin Tolentino — when the game was in the bag to give them a feel of the Gilas system after joining the team just a week going into the Asiad.
“That was important for us to get that extra time. The five guys are still feeling their way around. And again, those are the guys who we’re gonna depend on as they decide how far we go,” said Cone.
Brownlee, Perez and Kouame teamed up in a telling 22-8 blitz in the second quarter that gave the nationals a 51-33 spread at the halfway mark.
Gilas enjoyed a 72-47 advantage going into the payoff period and was never threatened from there.
An Alas basket pushed Gilas’ edge to as much as 89-55 with 1:29 to go.
Maitham Almoathin and Mustafa Rashed carried the fight for the world No. 69 Bahrain with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Rashed Ali Husain Ali Ahmed also got 12 markers for the Bahrainis.
Former PBA best import Wayne Chism, who had stops with Rain or Shine, NLEX, and Magnolia, contributed five points and 13 boards for Bahrain.
The loss was a big letdown for Bahrain, which is coming off a rousing campaign in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Damascus, Syria last month where it emerged undefeated in five matches.
As champion of the meet, it became the first country to secure a berth in the Qualifying Tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Group A is made up of Iran, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. Hong Kong replaced Lebanon in Group B after the Lebanese pulled out of the tilt due to “injuries to their players.” Chinese Taipei, Mongolia, and China complete Group B.
Group D has Japan, Indonesia, Qatar, and South Korea.
