Smart Gilas defeated Malaysia 86-68 on Jones Cup 2011

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Shortly after suffering defeat at the hands of Jordan, Smart-Gilas Pilipinas came back with a dominant game to rout Malaysia, 86-68, in the Williams Jones Cup in Chinese-Taipei on Tuesday. Mac Baracael and team captain Chris Tiu each scored 14 points against Malaysia, which remains winless in the tournament.

Three other Nationals came up with double figures. Marcus Lassiter and Japeth Aguilar scored 13 points each while Chris Lutz had 12. Victory, however, did not come easy for Gilas, who were expecting an effortless game against the unheralded Malaysian team.

The Malaysians managed to give them a good fight in the first half by forcing the Filipinos to commit several errors. The Nationals later saw themselves clinging to a 37-34 halftime lead. Gilas started to pull away with a huge run in the third quarter, pushing themselves way ahead, 60-40.

The Nationals, however, suffered another speed bump when Malaysia’s Kwan Jing hit Asi Taulava in the crotch. This prompted the burly 6’9” Filipino-Tongan to retaliate with punches. The incident led to the ejection of the two players.

Gilas then went trouble-free for the rest of the game, cruising past the Malaysians in the final quarter. Gilas now has 3 wins against 1 loss in Jones Cup.

Smart Gilas team manager Frankie Lim is confident that Taulava will be allowed to play in the following game since it was Kwan Jing who initiated the trouble.