FIBA Asia Cup: Philippines routs Uzbekistan as Chan catches fire

The Philippine National Team spotted their Uzbekistan foes one tight quarter, but it was a rout from that point on, as Jeff Chan led the Gilas squad with 20 big markers in an 85-50 blowout, Sunday in the FIBA Asia Cup tournament, held in Tokyo, Japan.

The Uzbekistans actually drew first blood, jumping to a 2-0 lead, but Jeff Chan countered with a triple, the first three of 12 markers in the period. Another two-pointer by their foes put the Gilas squad behind again, but it would be for the last time as a free throw by Marcus Douthit and two more makes by Chan gave Gilas the lead, this time for good, 8-4, 7:12 still to come in the first period.

A triple by Vyacheslav Denisov made it the last time the game was close, 13-12, with 4:59 left to play in the period, but the Philippines closed out the quarter on a 10-4 run to be up by seven, 23-16 after the first ten minutes.

Uzbekistan then found themselves stuck at 16 points for most of the second, while the Filipinos romped to 14 unanswered points, 37-16. Hasan Rahimov finally connected on a trey with two minutes remaining in the half, but the Philippines still stood strong at 39-21 entering the intermission, as they allowed just five points in the quarter.

The drought continued for Uzbekistan in the third as they only managed two points until the 4:20 mark, while Douthit and Chan continued to flex their might, 52-25, six minutes gone by.

Sensing that the game was well in the bag, Gilas head coach Chot Reyes began cycling in some of his other players, in order to give his starters some rest. The likes of Enrico Villanueva, Jay-R Reyes, and Matt Ganuelas then took over, and still managed to out-score their foes in the final quarter, 22-17.

The Philippines shot 9-of-20 from beyond the arc and gave up just three free throw attempts to their opponents.

Jared Dillinger added 10 points and two assists, while Douthit tallied nine markers and four assists, while playing a mere 14 minutes.

Gilas improved to 2-1 in their group, and will play Macau on Monday at 10:30 am. - AMD/OMG, GMA News


The scores:

Philippines 85 - Chan 20, Dillinger 10, Douthit 9, Ganuelas 8, Reyes 7, Fonacier 7, David 7,  Villanueva 6, De Ocampo 5, Norwood 4, Tenorio 2, Thoss 0

Uzbekistan 50 - Denisov 16, Juginisov 12, Kozlov 6, Yakhin 6, Rahimov 6, Tangrikulov 2, Nuraliev 2, Nabiev 0, Safarov 0, Kadirov 0, Timofeev 0

Quarter scoring: 23-16, 39-21, 63-33, 85-50