China snuffed out Gilas Pilipinas’ bid to defend its Asian Games basketball crown with a 105-61 demolition at the Aichi International Arena in Japan.
The 44-point defeat eliminated the defending champions from quarter-final contention, with China building a 36-point half-time lead to set the tone.
A barrage of treys from the Chinese side buried the Filipinos’ chance to climb back into the game as Hu Mingxuan and Li Yuezhuo anchored China’s outside shooting with three triples each.
Junjie Wang topped China with 20 points and 14 rebounds, followed by Sanning Liao with 14 points and four boards in the winning effort.
China’s size also proved too much for the Filipinos, as the latter struggled to move inside the paint and score efficiently.
With China’s bigs crowding the interior and the shooters stretching the floor, Gilas couldn’t mount a credible defence to contest shots, allowing the Chinese to get away with more points.
This is enforced by match statistics showing that China dominated the boards overall, 55-35.
In offensive glass, the Filipinos absorbed a 16-9 disadvantage.
Filipinos booted out
A 37-point defeat could still have salvaged the Filipinos’ title-retention bid, but China appeared to be eager to finish the job as early as this stage to avenge their semi-finals loss to the Philippines in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Among the Filipinos, only Calvin Oftana finished with double digits at 13 points, followed by Sedrick Barefield with nine markers and four boards.
The crushing loss sent the Philippines to ninth place, marking the country’s worst finish in Asian Games history.
This is a stunning reversal of fate after ending the country’s 61-year gold medal drought in the quadrennial games in Hangzhou.
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