Photo credit: PILIPINAS LIVE | Hangzhou Asian Games
Group C no. 2 Gilas Pilipinas Men defeated the Group D third seeded team Qatar, 80-41 in the qualification round for a quarterfinal slot of the 2023 Asian Games Men's Basketball 5x5 event on Monday, October 2 at the Zhejiang University Zijingang Gymnasium. [VIDEO]
June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez led Gilas in scoring. Fajardo finished with 12 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting, along with 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and a block. Meanwhile, Perez added 12 points (5/8fg, 2/2 3pts), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a block. Calvin Oftana also had a strong performance, registering 11 points (4/6fg, 1/2 2pts, 3/4 3pts), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals.
Gilas shot 51% from the field (32/63fg), including 7-of-21 shooting from beyond the arc. Qatar had 13 out of 61 field goals and made 5 out of 28 attempts from three-point range. Gilas went 9 out of 11 from the free-throw line, while the Qatar made 10 out of 16 free throws. The Philippines outrebounded Qatar, 50-35, Gilas had more assists (21-13), steals (14-11), and blocks (13-1), with Japeth Aguilar leading in blocks with 4. However, Gilas had more turnovers (22-20).
"The whole game allowed us to work. It was almost like a practice for us, practicing for Iran. And that big lead from the beginning gave us an opportunity to practice for Iran.” coach Tim Cone said in a post-game interview by pba.ph
Justin Brownlee played only 8 minutes and finished with 9 points (4/5fg), 5 rebounds, and an assist. Coach Cone chose to limit his playing time in order to preserve him for the upcoming match against Iran.
"We want to get off quick and get the lead so we could bring Justin out of the game and have him ready for tomorrow against Iran. That was one of our main goals and we're able to do that" added coach Cone.
Gilas Pilipinas advances to the knockout quarterfinals against Iran on Tuesday, October 3, at 12:00PM [LIVE]. Iran swept their three preliminary round games, beating UAE 81-57, Saudi Arabia 81-66, and Kazakhstan 86-60.
The scores:
PHILIPPINES 80 - Perez 12, Fajardo 12, Oftana 11, Aguilar 9, Brownlee 9, Alas 8, Kouame 8, Tolentino 6, Thompson 3, Newsome 2, Ross 0, Lassiter 0.
QATAR 41 - Muslic 12, Ndoye 7, Mousa 5, Ndao 5, Lashin 4, Hararic 3, Dieng 2, Advic 2, Darwish 1, Tall 0, Hajar 0, Abdelbaset 0.
Quarters: 33-14, 57-23, 73-30, 80-41. [VIDEO] | [STATS]
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