GILAS Pilipinas completed a sweep of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers second window with a 93-54 rout of Hong Kong at the Mall of Asia Arena to earn a ticket to the tournament proper in Saudi Arabia next year.
June Mar Fajardo and Kai Sotto towered over their outsized opponents early on to set the tempo of the match played before a crowd of 11,086.
But the national team didn't really pull away for good when it began hitting its outside shots in the third quarter on the way to coasting to the 39-point blowout.
It's the second straight victory for the home team in the aftermath of its morale-boosting 93-89 win over world no. 22 New Zealand last Thursday, raising its record to 4-0 overall to retain the top spot in Group B.
"We're already in. We just haven't fixed our seeding yet. But we've placed a spot already," said coach Tim Cone after the game.
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Fajardo finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Sotto added 12 and 15 rebounds, before they gave way to the Gilas young guns of Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao in the second half.
The Filipinos outscored the visitors in the third quarter 22-8 to finally pull away for good and take a 67-43 lead going to the fourth period.
Tamayo eventually led Gilas with 16 points and five rebounds, Justine Brownlee had a quiet game of 13 points, three rebounds, and three assists in just 24 minutes of play, while Quiambao had eight points, five rebounds, and four assists after not playing in the game against New Zealand.
Point guard Dwight Ramos however, didn't see action due to a minor calf injury, but showed up in playing uniform.
Hong Kong remained winless in four outings and is in the bottom of Group B.(RG)
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The scores
Gilas Pilipinas (93) -- Tamayo 16, Fajardo 14, Brownlee 13, Sotto 12, Perez 10, Newsome 9, Thompson 8, Quiambao 8, Amos 3, Oftana 0, Aguilar 0.
Hong Kong (54) -- Shui 11, Xu 10, Yang 9, Tsai 8, Reid 6, Yip 4, Pok 3, Leung 3, Yeung 0, Hon 0, Ng 0, Tang 0.
Quarterscores: 25-16; 45-35; 67-43; 93-54.
