There was no 100-point lead this time but the Philippine national men’s basketball team still cruised to an easy 113-66 victory over Singapore to notch its second straight win in the 2017 SEABA Championship on Saturday night at SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
A day after beating Myanmar by 107 points, Gilas Pilipinas faced a Singapore squad which was more competitive than the Burmese. The visitors even kept pace with the hosts in the third period, scoring 22 points compared to hosts’ 26.
But Gilas Pilipinas already took the fight out of Singapore in the first quarter, zooming to an 11-0 lead en route to an insurmountable 31-9 cushion which the Filipinos expanded to as much as 51 points.
Calvin Abueva once again led Gilas Pilipinas in scoring with 16 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Allein Maliksi tallied 14 points, three rebounds and four assists while Andray Blatche registered 14 markers, nine boards, two steals and two blocks.
Matthew Wright finished with 13 markers, while June Mar Fajardo came up with 11 points for the Filipinos.
Gilas Pilipinas will return to action on Sunday against Malaysia which remains winless in two games.