GILAS Pilipinas bucked a shaky start to hack out an 84-46 victory over Saudi Arabia Monday night to close out its campaign in the August window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers on a winning note.
Jordan Clarkson put on a show in his first ever game on home soil, delivering 17 of his 23 points in the first half when he carried the Filipinos on his broad shoulders after struggling with their shots in the opening half.
The Utah Jazz star added five rebounds and five assists to complete the job for the country and delighted a crowd of 19,829 including President Bongbong Marcos, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
As Clarkson settled Gilas, Dwight Ramos and the rest took over and seized a 37-28 lead at halftime.
It was all Gilas show from there.
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"I'm very happy for the result, even happier for the effort that the players, starting with the guy beside me, put forth in this ballgame," said coach Chot Reyes during the post-game presser where he was joined by Clarkson.
"I think we did a good job. We made some adjustments during the game against them (Saudis)," added Clarkson.
Young big man Kai Sotto finished with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds, while adding four block shots, even as Ramos added nine points, six rebounds, and two assists in the victory that helped Gilas evened its record at 3-3 in Group E.
It was a big bounce back win for the host after losing a tough one against Lebanon last week, 85-81.
But for a while in the first quarter, the Filipinos were hardly a shadow of the team that engaged the Cedars in a toe-to-toe battle as they trailed the Saudis by six points, and 14-11 to end the opening period.
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Clarkson and Ramos then caught fire and sparked a 10-0 blast to turn the game around and give the host a 35-23 lead from which it never looked back.
The Filipinos held their biggest advantage at 84-44 on Calvin Oftana's corner floater in the final 70 seconds.
Saudi Arabia got nine point and nine rebounds from Khalid Abdel Gabar as the visitors fell to a 1-5 record. (RG)
The scores:
Philippines (84) - Clarkson 23, Sotto 16, Ramos 9, Aguilar 8, K. Ravena 8, Parks 6, Oftana 6, T. Ravena 4, Thompson 2, Malonzo 2, Newsome 0, Adams 0.
Saudi Arabia (46) - Abdel Gabar 9, Kadi 9, Ma. Almarwani 9, Mo Almarwani 8, Almuwallad 4, Belal 3, Mohammed 2, Abo Jalas 2, Alsager 0, Albargawi 0.
Quarterscores: 14-11; 37-28; 61-36; 84-46.
