MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas capped off its campaign in the 2018 FilOil Flying V Premier Cup with a morale-boosting 97-78 win over Mapua University Cardinals at the San Juan Arena.
Robert Bolick led with 13 points and Kobe Paras made 12. Filipino-American Troy Rike posted 11 in his Gilas debut along with eight rebounds. The Philippine team ended with 3-5 win-loss slate.
Ahead for the most part of the opening half, Gilas found its advantage on Monday night slowly chopped down by the gritty Cardinals until the game was tied at 57-all with over four minutes in the third canto.
Gilas then put on an unconventional lineup featuring three bigs – Kai Sotto, Isaac Go and Carl Tamayo – for a 24-6 scoring run. Consecutive hits by Bolick followed to extend the lead to 20 points.
“I experimented with some things. I played with the three bigs, it worked. We look more like a team now,” said Gilas head coach Joseph Uichico.
Cedric Pelayo and Eric Jabel led Cardinals with 14 points apiece while Lawrence Victoria added 12 points and eight assists.
In the other match, San Beda University Red Lions handed De La Salle University Green Archers its first defeat in the tournament 72-70 in a rematch of last year’s championship.
Jayvee Mocon, who also played for Gilas earlier in the day, led the way with 20 points, six rebounds and three assists while Donald Tankoua had 9 markers for Red Lions (3-2)./PN
