Gilas sustains romp, soars past Indians

For the first time since 2003, India has qualified for the quarterfinals of the 28th FIBA Asia Championship for Men that is underway in Changsha, China.

Iran’s Hamed Haddadi and Mahdi Kamrani had an astonishing performance during the match scoring 29 points and doing 22 rebounds altogether.

Giving full credit to the heroics of Amjyot and Amrit Pal in the championship so far veteran forward Yadwinder Singh said, “We are ecstatic to reach quarterfinals and all the players have put in a lot of effort”.

Still on a high after their emotional victory over the Iranians, the Nationals looked lethargic at times in the first half and even trailed by as many as five at 12-17, with India’s frontline duo of Amjyot Singh and Amritpal Singh making the early damage.

It took a while for the Philippines to crank up its offense, with a hard-nosed defense right from the opening tip the only thing that prevented the Indians from dominating in the first two periods.

The Indians had a slow start to the game, trailing after one half before flipping the switch in the third and fourth quarters to pull the rug from under the upset-conscious Hong Kongers.

Terrrence Romeo led six Gilas players in double-figures with 20 points that went with four assists and three steals. The Indians had no answer against the Philippines as they conceded the 99-65 result.

Singh, before Tuesday, was the tournament’s leading scorer, averaging 25.4 points per game while shooting 46.6 per cent from the field. The team will need to beat the defending champion Iran on Tuesday to secure a quarter-final berth.

India and Palestine tied until 55-55 in the final quarter, and neither team was able to have a convincing advantage.

Blatche clearly played like he was pacing himself, unlike in the game against Iran.

THE BEAST. Calvin Abueva is all over the place for Gilas against India. He scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the critical win over Palestine, then followed it up with 26 and 12 in defeating Hong Kong.