Gilas too much for Chinese Taipei, wins by 53

MANILA, Philippines -- Gilas Pilipinas simply could not be stopped.

In front of a thunderous and deafening home crowd, the Philippines demolished Chinese Taipei, 106-53, in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifier group play Sunday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The Nationals started the game strong, jumping to a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter, 26-13.

The visitors cut the lead to eight, 26-18, at the start of the second frame with a 3-pointer by Sin-Kuan Lin and a floater by Ai-Che Yu.

Gilas then unleashed a backbreaking 16-0 run capped by a Carl Tamayo pull-up jumper to take an insurmountable 42-18 lead.

Chinese Taipei simply could not solve the Philippine puzzle, with Gilas being just too good both offensively and defensively.

A pair of rim-rattling dunks by Japeth Aguilar within the first minute of the fourth quarter pushed the lead to 45, 86-41, prompting the crowd to chant "Uwian na!"

The lead grew to as much as 54 points, 102-48, with a 3-pointer by Calvin Oftana.

Brownlee once again spearheaded Gilas with 26 points, including 11 in the first and 10 in the third quarter.

He also had 13 boards and five assists.

Kai Sotto continued to be a monster inside the paint, finishing with a double-double of 18 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocks blocks.

Oftana and Dwight Ramos had 13 and 12 markers, respectively.

All players who saw minutes on the floor scored a field goal.

Cheng Liu was the lone double-digit scorer of Chinese Taipei with 13 points. 

Both Gilas and New Zealand end the first window of Group B play undefeated. The latter blew away Hong Kong, 88-49, earlier in the day.

The next window of the qualifiers will be in November.