Gilas turns red-hot from three late to keep Asiad title defense alive
It looked like a Gilas Pilipinas shooting drill at the Aichi International Arena as Robert Bolick made it rain from three halfway through the second frame, and then Jerrick Ahanmisi and the troops found their shooting touch to finish the job late in the fourth and revive their Asian Men's Basketball title defense.
Gilas cruised their way to a 109-78 rout against Kazakhstan in Group C behind hot shooting from beyond the arc to capture their first win on Saturday night, the complete opposite of their opening game woe.
Ahanmisi finished the game with 22 points on seven threes made, four of which came consecutively late in the game, while Bolick added 20, making four of his six attempts from three-point land.
The 30-year-old Bolick set the tone of the Filipino offense, starting the second quarter on a fiery note after a turnaround jumper and a trey to score five of Gilas’ first seven points and turn what was once a tight three-point game into a 10-point lead, 25-15.
Midway through the quarter, Bolick kept his takeover mode on, scoring 10 more points from a floater, a layup, and back-to-back threes to give Gilas a comfortable 38-17 leverage.
The Kazakhs would, however, slowly hustle back into the game, inching to as close as nine points in the third canto, then clinging on to trail just by 11 early in the fourth.
From that point on, it was all Gilas as Ahanmisi gave the defending champions 12 straight points after drilling four threes one after the other to get the upper hand back up by 23, 97-74.
Nikita Fedchenko momentarily stopped the bleeding after an open layup underneath before Calvin Oftana re-established the Filipino surge behind a layup of his own followed by a trey from right wing, 103-76, with barely two minutes remaining.
Celedonio Trollano Jr. added another right wing three with 1:31 left with Robert Pan answering through a fast layup to quiet things down for a moment, 106-78.
Ahanmisi launched another three with 11.3 seconds left to hand Gilas the 31-point blowout dub, exactly just what they need to secure the second seed in Group C.
Gilas started their campaign on a bumpy road after an 89-85 loss to Bahrain that saw their gallant comeback fall short.
The Filipinos would take a one-day break before going up against the unbeaten China for their final group stage game on Monday, September 14.
The top two from each team would advance to quarterfinals which will start on September 16.
Written by via John Benedict Silverio, Insight PH
via John Benedict Silverio, Insight PH is a dedicated campus journalist and contributor. Their insightful writing sparks meaningful conversations and keeps the community informed.
