As expected, the Philippine national men’s basketball team breezed through its first assignment in the 2017 SEABA Championship, annihilating lowly Myanmar by 107 points, 147-40, on Friday night at SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Facing a basketball minnow in Myanmar, which is making its first SEABA appearance in more than two decades, Gilas Pilipinas stamped its class right from the tip-off, starting the game with a 17-0 run and never looking back.
Calvin Abueva top-scored for the Filipinos with 22 points to go along with a complete statline of six rebounds, four assists and five steals.
Allein Maliksi fired 20 markers and five boards. RR Pogoy scored 17 points, 11 of which came during the team’s fiery start.
June Mar Fajardo tallied 14 points and six boards, while Jio Jalalon had a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists.
Matthew Wright (12 points), Japeth Aguilar (11) and Andray Blatche (11) also finished in double digits.
Gilas Pilipinas’ lead kept on ballooning the entire game. The hosts pulled away with a 66-12 halftime lead, and extended their humongous lead to 100 points after a Pogoy layup with 2:45 remaining in the game.
The Filipinos will next take on Singapore on Saturday.
