The Philippine quintet imposed itself against a badly handicapped Japanese side Tuesday in the 18th Asian Games here, hacking out a 113-80 victory for a guaranteed improvement from the country's seventh-place finish in the Incheon Asiad in 2014.
Christian Standhardinger and Jordan Clarkson were in the forefront of Gilas’ attack. The Filipino-German forward had a double-double of 27 points and 13 rebounds, Clarkson had 22 markers.
The duo captained the Filipinos’ breakaway bridging the second and third quarters. From a slim three-point lead, Gilas scored 21 straight for a 68-47 advantage with 6:09 left in the third, leaving Japan reeling on the ground.
Japan's men's basketball team has made headlines for reasons off the court. Japan sent home four players -- Keita Imamura, Takuya Hashimoto, Yuya Nagayoshi, and Takuma Sato -- for spending the night with women in a Jakarta hotel, delegation head Yasuhiro Yamashita said on Monday.
The Japan National Olympic Committee withdrew the accreditation of Yuya Nagayoshi, Takuya Hashimoto, Takuma Sato and Keita Imamura after a newspaper published photographs of the players out of town. The delegation head said the quartet, even wearing their team uniforms, spent a couple of hours at the bar then checked into a hotel with four women.
National coach Yeng Guiao bared Yap sustained an ankle injury in the 18th Asian Games, the reason he opted not to field the two-time PBA MVP in games against Korea and Japan, so as not to aggravate his injury.
"When we came here, the objective was to better our finish in the last Asian Games. As of now, it has been achieved but we still can do better. We'll try to do that Friday," Guiao added.
The Philippines take on either Syria or Indonesia in the battle for fifth place on Friday, also at the GBK Basketball Hall.
The Scores:
Philippines 113 – Standhardinger 27, Clarkson 22, Lee 17, Pringle 9, Belga 7, Almazan 6, Taulava 6, Norwood 5, Ahanmisi 5, Tiu 5, Erram 4.
Japan 80 – Nakamura 16, Kumagae 15, Vendrame 11, Schafer 11, Harimoto 10, Ota 10, Tsuji 5, Tamaki 2.
Quarterscores: 27-27, 57-47, 82-64.
