Gilas makes it to FIBA-Asia

source: mb.com.ph

MANILA, Philippines — The Smart-Gilas Pilipinas secured a slot in the FIBA-Asia Championship in Wuhan, China after claiming its second straight win in as many games in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The national team outclassed the host nation, 94-54, Friday night, assuring itself of advancing to the Wuhan tournament set Sept. 15-25, which is the qualifying event for the 2012 London Olympics.

The Nationals, who downed on opening day Malaysia (97-71) last Thursday, got a balanced scoring as Fil-Am forward Chris Lutz led the way with 20 points, while forward Japeth Aguilar had 19 points, and guard Dylan Ababou added 13 points off the bench.

Naturalized center Marcus Douthit finished with 11 points for the national team, which converted 56 percent (30-of-54) of its field goal attempts while holding down Indonesia to only 30 percent (24-of-81).

Despite playing with nine players, Smart-Gilas quickly jumped the gun and grabbed a 20-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

“We stopped their penetrations while attacking the basket aggressively on the other end,” said Smart-Gilas Serbian coach Rajko Toroman. “We struggled and had a slow start the other night because we lacked practice time. Today, we played a great game.”

Down to 10 players prior to the SEABA tournament, and half of them either with injury or illness, Toroman also had to deal with the back problems of Fil-Am guard Marcio Lassiter, who was sent home Saturday.

Andi Poedjakesuma led Indonesia with 10 points.

The Indonesians dropped to 1-1, the same record of Malaysia. The two teams will play late Saturday in a virtual playoff to decide which team will advance in the Finals today against the Smart-Gilas.

The national team will try to close out the eliminations with a perfect record going to the championship round. Toroman’s team is playing Singapore at presstime.

The top three teams at the end of the single round robin will advance to the FIBA-Asia Championship.

The Score:
Smart -Gilas 94 — Lutz 20, Aguilar 19, Ababou 13, Douthit 11, Casio 8, Baracael 7, Barroca 6, Tiu 6, Ballesteros 4.

Indonesia 54 — Poedjakesuma 10, Prawiro 8, Thoy Ib 8, Indrawan 6, Prihantono 5, Wuysang 5, Situmorang 4, Aryo 2, Ahmad 2, Gunawan 2, Setepu 2, Chandra 0.

Quarters: 20-9; 49-22; 71-38; 94-54.
source: mb.com.ph