Highlight of Gilas’ second round three-game winning streak was the team’s impressive win over the highly-favored Iran team Monday, giving the Philippine national team enough confidence to sweep the second round when it dominated India 99-65 Tuesday afternoon.
Gilas struggled in both their defense and offense in the first half as the India nationals threatened to pull away with their nearly accurate outside shooting and layups.
At the end of the second quarter India was ahead at 42-36 but midway to the third quarter Gilas found its rhythm to end the quarter with a 15-point lead at 65-50.
The Philippine team was almost flawless in steals and shooting in the last quarter that ended in a lopsided scoring in favor of Gilas with the final score of 99-65.
The win puts Gilas Pilipinas on the top spot in Group E heading to the quarterfinals.
“It was a tough game today and we expected a tough game,” Gilas coach Tab Baldwin said. “We were kind of flat in the first half and again, their zone (defense) contributed to that.”
“But again our energy guys kind of got us through that first half, and as a team, we found a lot of energy in the second half,” Baldwin added.
Gilas will face Lebanon in the quarterfinals on Thursday, Oct. 1 after a one day break.
The Philippine team is aiming for a gold medal in the ongoing FIBA Asia Championship in order to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
