THE Gilas Cadets Philippines men’s basketball team routed Indonesia, 81-52, to clinch its first victory in the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games at OCBC Arena Hall 1 in Kallang, Singapore Wednesday.
Nothing stopped the Tab Baldwin-coached Gilas Cadets in implementing their game plan as they continued to pressure the backcourts of the opposing Indonesian squad forcing the latter to commit a total of 20 turnovers. While the Gilas Cadets were also forced to turn the ball over 21 times, they had the upper hand in the offense as they converted more points off turnovers.
Gilas Cadets opened up a 14-4 lead in the first quarter after the Indonesian squad struggled on the floor hitting only one of its 15 field goal attempts. Indonesia picked up its pace in the second quarter by scoring 20 points but they struggled anew in the third quarter hitting only 10 baskets.
The Philippine squad hen thwarted any comeback attempt from Indonesia, outscoring the latter in the fourth canto, 21-18.
Team captain Kiefer Ravena led the charge for the Gilas Cadets with 16 while Troy Rosario and Almond Vosotros chipped in 15 and 14, respectively. Norberto Torres and Kevin Ferrer added eight points apiece.
The Gilas Cadets will be up against Malaysia today. TV coverage will start at 4 p.m. at Aksyon TV. They will also face-off against Timor-Leste during the Philippine Independence Day on Friday.
Meanwhile, Perlas Pilipinas bounced back from a first game loss Tuesday by thrashing Vietnam, 100-55, in Game 2 Wednesday. The Philippines cage-belles bowed to Thailand, 57-62, earlier.
Over at the OCBC Arena Hall 2, Philippines' women's spikers absorbed a beating at the hands of Indonesia, 22-25, 20-25, 14-25.
In billiards and snooker, Dennis Orcollo gave the Philippines a gold medal in men's 9-ball pool singles by racking out a 9-4 win over Maung Maung of Myanmar at the OCBC Arena Hall 4 Wednesday.