JERRICK Ahanmisi and Robert Bolick regained their shooting touch as Gilas Pilipinas captured its first win, beating Kazakhstan, 109-78, on Saturday night in the 20th Asian Games men’s basketball at the Aichi International Arena.
Bolick had 20 points on 4-of-6 from threes to set the tone for Gilas’ fiery three-point shooting to pick up the all-important victory to stay alive in the quarterfinals with a 1-1 win-loss record in Group C.
Ahanmisi closed the game out to finish with 22 points on 7-of-11 from threes for Gilas Pilipinas, which takes a one-day break before closing the group stage against China.
Gilas made it rain from threes in the fourth quarter to pad the lead that could come in handy, with the winning margin of the games also being considered in the race for quarterfinal berths.
Gilas combined for 16-of-29 (55 percent) from threes, a big improvement from its 89-85 loss to Bahrain last Friday where 10-of-34 (29 percent).
The Philippines never trailed in the game after scoring the first 11 points of the contest. The lead swelled to 15 points, 30-15, on a 12-0 run with Bolick knocking down his first three of the tournament during the stretch.
Even with the result of the game already settled, Gilas Pilipinas turned to Ahanmisi for more points, hitting four consecutive threes for a 97-73 lead.
Calvin Oftana added 12 points, while Sedrick Barefield scored 11 points on 3-of-5 from threes.
The scores:
Philippines 109 – Ahanmisi 22, Bolick 20, Oftana 12, Barefield 11, Lucero 10, Abarrientos 6, Baltazar 6, Arana 6, Trollano 5, Nocum 4, Ganuelas-Rosser 4, Bates 3.
Kazakhstan 78 – Bykov 15, Marat 12, Maydekin 12, Neff 11, Rabchenyuk 9, Murzagaliyev 8, Fedchenko 7, Ivanov 2, Sakhipov 2, Marchuk 0, Severgin 0, Kuanov 0.
Quarters: 18-15; 50-37; 82-66; 109-78.
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