GILAS Pilipinas chalked up win No. 2 in the 31st Southeast Asian Games with a routine 100-32 rout of lowly Cambodia Tuesday night in Hanoi, Vietnam.
After a hard struggle against Thailand, the Nationals, as expected, had an easy night against the Cambodian quintet - a side that started participating in SEAG basketball only in 2007 in Nakhon Ratchasima.
In all their SEAG stints, the Cambodians could finish no better than sixth.
June Mar Fajardo and his teammates could face some challenge against Singapore Wednesday, Vietnam Thursday and Malaysia Saturday before the keenly awaited Philippine-Indonesia setto where the Nationals face the Rajko Toroman-mentored squad bannered by former Cleveland Cavalier Marques Bolden.
Though barely getting past the Thais, 76-73, the Nationals got on the right track and hope to get going to achieve the target that they can't afford to miss - a 14th straight gold medal in SEAG men's basketball.
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Another goal is to make up for a bungled title-retention bid in men's 3x3 where Brandon Rosser, Marvin Hayes, Reymar Caduyac and Jorey Napoles settled for the bronze.
Bearing the brunt of the Nationals' fright night versus the Thais were the Cambodians.
Just like against the Thais, Fajardo, Troy Rosario, Matthew Wright, Thirdy Ravena and Kib Montalbo formed the starting unit, and they had their turnaround from their poor effort in the previous game, giving Gilas a 32-9 takeoff this time.
Wright and Montalbo fired two three-pointers each and combined for 18 markers in the first five minutes of the contest.
Then, coach Chot Reyes unleashed Lebron Lopez, Will Navarro and Jaydee Tungcab for their SEAG debuts. Lopez had an early burst, including jarring jams that got the crowd at the Thanh Tri Gymnasium up on their feet.
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From there, the Nationals practically ran a clinic for the Cambodians.
The Gilas cadets had a field day, with Lopez and Navarro top scoring with 17 and 16, respectively.
It's a second loss for the Cambodians who were bamboozled by the home team, 87-55, Monday. (SB)
