Thanks to second half surge, Gilas repeats over Indonesia to remain spotless

Even with their spot to the FIBA Asia Cup already secured, the Philippines continued to put the foot on the gas pedal as it walloped Indonesia once again, 76-51 to remain undefeated in the qualifiers Friday evening at the Angeles University Foundation Sports and Cultural Center.

Just two days after punching their ticket to competition proper by a close shave to arch-rivals South Korea, coach Tab Baldwin and his youthful Gilas were too much for Rajko Toroman's wards to handle as it repeated their 100-70 romp away in Jakarta way back in 2020 with a solid second half to collect its fifth win in as many games in Group A play.

With the exception of skipper Isaac Go, every player fielded by the fabled Kiwi-American mentor scored at least a field goal, with the frontcourt duo of Ange Kouame and Justine Baltazar each had 11 to pace the now 5-0 Filipinos, with guard Dwight Ramos fired in a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds en route to an efficiency rating of 18.

But it was not smooth sailing in the first twenty minutes, when both teams went toe-to-toe as Gilas went into the break with just an eight-point lead.

"We didn't settle down," Baldwin confessed after the game as they cite their lack of self-discipline as a reason for their first-half sluggishness.

Despite dominating the stats, the biggest concern of Gilas was the drastic drop in shooting in which they only shot just 37% (29/79) from the field, a far cry from 44% (28/64) in their Wednesday thriller over the South Koreans, who are raring for revenge on Sunday after their 104-81 rout of the Indonesians the day before.

"We tried to pushed the tempo and I think we're not yet ready to be an up-tempo team and then to flow into some half-court cohesion," he added.

And the adjustments at halftime worked in the third period, as Gilas blew the game open with a crippling 13-0 blast to turn a four-point edge into a gaping 48-31 advantage which the Indonesians never recovered as they suffered their second straight defeat to fall to 1-4 in the qualifiers, but were assured of their spot in the competition proper as tournament hosts nevertheless.

Baltazar added, "Maayos yung pinapagawa ng mga coaches sa amin. Nakabawi kami sa second half kasi nagawa namin yung mga play namin."

Lester Prosper's game-high of 22 markers went for naught as the bubble hosts put the clamps on its supporting side, with Abraham Grahita and Andakara Prastawa were held to just 8 points apiece as Toroman will have a lot of work to do if Indonesia had serious intentions to contend in the continental stage.

The scores:

PHILIPPINES 76 -- Baltazar 11, Kouame 11, Ramos 10, Abarrientos 9, Lopez 8, Sotto 7, Tamayo 6, Gomez de Liano 4, Chiu 4, Belangel 3, Heading 3, Go 0

INDONESIA 51 -- Prosper 22, Grahita 8, Prastawa 8, Goantara 6, Wisnu 4, Kokodiputra 3, Sitorus 0, Saputra 0, Putra Teja 0, Kosasih 0, Hadran Noor 0

Quarter scores: 15-11, 30-22, 51-36, 76-51
PHOTOS: FIBA