MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas kicked off its 30th Southeast Asian Games men’s basketball campaign with a resounding 110-58 victory over Singapore last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Stanley Pringle and Vic Manuel tallied 14 points each while Matthew Wright and June Mar Fajardo contributed 13 and 10 markers, respectively.
After surrendering the first two points to Singapore, Gilas Pilipinas leaned on the exploits of Pringle, Christian Standhardinger and Wright to build a 30-13 advantage.
Singapore came up with consecutive hits to start the second period but the Philippines was quick to kill that run with Marcio Lassiter unloading five straight points that widened the lead to 48-28.
Gilas Pilipinas continued its run behind Pringle and Wright in the third period, while Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar also made their contributions as the lead went up to 77-48.
The home team dropped the hammer in the fourth quarter with Manuel and Gregory Slaughter easily scoring inside as the lead reached its largest at 52 points.
The Philippine team will take a break today before plunging back to action against Vietnam on Friday night and Myanmar on Saturday evening./PN
