GILAS Pilipinas leaned anew on the lethal tandem of Justin Brownlee and Kai Sotto to whip Chinese Taipei, 106-53, and complete a two-game sweep of its first window campaign in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers Sunday night.
Brownlee and Sotto delighted the huge Filipino crowd at the Philsports Arena with their high-scoring act as they reprised the same heroic role they did in a 94-64 rout of Hong Kong on the road last Thursday.
The Gilas naturalized player finished with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds in his first game on local shores since leading the national team to the gold medal in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Sotto meanwhile had an all-around game of 18 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, including a highlight reel play in which he issued a pass on Brownlee who converted the play by completing a slam dunk that brought the house down.
"I really like the way we worked. We worked hard on both sides of the floor and did that for 40 minutes," said Gilas coach Tim Cone afterwards.
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By the end of the opening window, Gilas joined New Zealand on top of Group B, both with 2-0 slates.
The Filipinos resume their campaign in the qualifiers in November.
Gilas scored 10 straight points to end the first period to take control of the match, 26-13, and never looked back.
Four other Gilas players finished in double figures namely, Calvin Oftana (13), Dwight Ramos (12), Karl Tamayo (11), and Kevin Quiambao (10).
Chinese Taipei fell to a 0-2 record in the same group.(RG)
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The scores
Gilas (106) - Brownlee 26, Sotto 18, Oftana 13, Ramos 12, Tamayo 11, Quiambao 10, Aguilar 8, Perez 4, Newsome 2, Thompson 2.
Chinese Taipei (53) - Liu 13, Lin 8, Wang 6, Z.R Hseih 6, Chang 4, Lin C.C. 3, Lin C. 2, Gao 2, Chen 2, Yu 2.
Quarterscores: 26-13; 52-27; 82-41; 106-53.
