Phl Gilas smothers Singapore

MANILA, Philippines - Gilas Pilipinas primed up for its keenly awaited match with Jordan as it blasted Singapore, 74-57, to notch its second straight win in the elims of the fifth FIBA Asia Cup at the Wuhan Sports Center in Wuhan, China yesterday.

Naturalized player Marcus Douthit played limited minutes as the Filipino locals’ efforts proved more than enough to scuttle the Singaporeans.

Gary David and Paul Lee – playing under his passport name John Paul Dalistan – tossed in 10 points apiece and the rest had their contribution in a well-balanced game that kept Team Phl on track for playoff top seeding from Group B.

The Nationals go for a sweep of their group-play assignments as they take on coach Rajko Toroman and the Jordanians (1-1) at 5:15 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, India pulled off a huge Sunday surprise as it shocked host China, 65-58.

“Full marks to the players for holding it together. I think it’s an overdue win for India and there’s no way anyone can take the credit away from the boys,” said Indian coach Scott Flemming in a report on the tournament website http://wuhan2014.fibaasia.net.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Flemming also said.

“We certainly deserved to win. We worked hard for this,” said Indian star Vishesh Bhriguvanshi.

“Well, this is a young team. Such results are expected,” said China coach Wang Huaiyu.

“They (India) really deserved the win because they certainly played better than us. But our very purpose is to learn from these mistakes. We win some and we lose some at this stage. But every game is a lesson for us,” he added.

 China dropped to 1-2 but could still salvage No. 1 spot in Group A with its 64-51 win over Iran the other day.

Gilas Pilipinas didn’t play its full might against Singapore but still found easy sailing in nailing a follow-up to its 78-64 drubbing of Chinese Taipei Saturday.

LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar and David scored the game’s first nine points, and the Nationals led all the way as they handed the Singaporeans a second straight loss.

The Filipinos dominated the game even with Douthit playing only 15 minutes and making a single field-goal attempt.

Aguilar, Beau Belga, Jay Washington, Ranidel de Ocampo and Jared Dillinger manned the frontcourt as Gilas pummeled Singapore, 42-18, on points at the paint.