July 22, 2017

Gilas turns to its bench in lopsided win over India

TAIPEI – The Gilas Pilipinas lesser lights got extensive minutes against a lowly Asian rival, and showed readiness for the coming SEA Games with their contribution in their 101-70 rout of India in the penultimate day of the 2017 Jones Cup here on Saturday.

Almond Vosotros, Von Pessumal, Ed Daquiaog and Cris Tolomia, who hardly saw action in their previous games here, made good use of the minutes given them against the Indians, helping Team Phl breeze through to a fifth win against three losses.

Vosotros, Pessumal, Tolomia, along with Matthew Wright and Carl Bryan Cruz, combined for 17 three-pointers to highlight Gilas’ conquest of India, a traditional whipping boy to many in Asian basketball.

It’s a big turnaround for the Nationals from the last time where they’re the ones torched by the Lithuanians with their fiery shooting.

Vosotros and Pessumal combined for 8-of-17 three-pointers and made a total of 14 points each while Ed Daquiaog and Tolomia chipped in eight markers apiece.

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“It’s a great testament to our other players who don’t get too much playing time to constantly be ready, and come in and play well in this ball game,” said Reyes, agreeing their performance spoke well for the coming SEA Games.

“One of the big objectives in our Jones Cup participation is the preparation for the SEA Games. Von (Pessumal) and Almond (Vosotros) are integral parts of the SEA Games team and same thing with Fonzo Gotladera, Mike Tolomia and Toto Jose. Those guys are very important for SEA Games, and it’s important that they get minutes,” Reyes pointed out.

Pessumal and Cruz came out firing to fuel Gilas’ breakaway from a 27-24 count at the start of the second quarter.

Cruz came through with a 3-of-7 three-point shooting while Wright sizzled with a perfect 5-of-5 clip.

Mike Myers, Christian Standhardinger and Kiefer Ravena played limited minutes in Gilas’ lightest game in the tourney.

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But even when Gilas has blown the game open, the Nationals stuck to running their dribble-drive offense.

“The central theme for us is this game is respect. We wanted to make sure we respect the opponent, the way they play and respect the game. We wanted to come out with an effort to show we respect India and the ball game,” said Reyes.