THE Gilas Pilipinas captured their second straight win as they bullied Vietnam, 110-69, to remain unbeaten in the 30th Southeast Asian Games men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday night, December 6, 2019.
Cebuano big man June Mar Fajardo showed off exactly why he has won the PBA’s Most Valuable Player award in each of the last five years as he put up 23 points and 12 rebounds in a mere 15 minutes of playing time.
Gilas started slow but Fajardo — the pride of Pinamungahan and the University of Cebu — gave the team the lift it needed to go up 24-16. The Cebuano then added 12 points in the third canto to shove Gilas in front by as much as 44 points en route to tallying the lopsided win.
LA Tenorio and Vic Manuel scored 14 points apiece even as Troy Rosario added 12, making three from beyond the arc. Stanley Pringle had 11 while the other Cebuano giant on the squad, Greg Slaughter, added 10 markers.
The Gilas seek a sweep of Group A when they battle Myanmar on Saturday at the same venue.
The scores:
PHILIPPINES 110 - Fajardo 23, Tenorio 14, Manuel 14, Rosario 12, Pringle 11, Slaughter 10, Wright 7, Lassiter 6, Aguilar 6, Ravena 5, Ross 1, Standhardinger 1.
VIETNAM 69 - Dierker 28, Young 13, Tran 7, Le 6, T. Dinh 5, H. Nguyen 4, S. Dinh 3, Vo 2, Du 1, T. Nguyen 0, S. Nguyen 0.
Quarters: 27-19, 52-40, 80-57, 110-69.