#SEAGames2019: Gilas Men through to the semis after sweeping Group A with a mauling of Myanmar

PASAY CITY -- Making the most of the Mall of Asia Arena crowd, host nation Philippines sweeps group A of the Men's Basketball Tournament of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games after tearing Myanmar to shreds in a 136-67 beatdown Saturday night in front of a very engaging audience .

Bucking a relatively "slow" start"  to the game, Coach Tim Cone's Gilas Men leaned on the hot shooting in the second frame to advance to the medal rounds unbeaten in group A, winning all three games in the process while setting up their tiff with Indonesia of Gilas pioneer mentor Rajko Toroman in the last four.

However, it was not a walk in the park for the hosts despite firing nine straight to open the game, Aung Myint put the game close when he hit half of his team-high 28 in the opening period as Myanmar only trailed by 8.

But that was it for the visitors as Matthew Wright and Marcio Lassiter had connived in their second quarter explosion, breaking the game wide open on a 23-0 crippler, turning a close four-pont game into a 27-point blowout en route into a 77-36 run at the break, in which the Grand Slam winning mentor did not even field Junemar Fajardo and Stanley Pringle for the entirety of the game.

Gilas as a team shot a shade under 57 percent from the field, and hit 17 three-pointers while showing their near flawless effort with 43 assists and only one turnover.

Wright had 29 points on a 9/17 field goal shooting, including half of his 16 attempts from beyond the arc as his 17 second quarter points put the game away, with Vic Manuel providing the muscle with a classy double-double of 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Lassiter then fired all of his 12 points in the second from beyond the arc to finish with 15, while LA Tenorio's short jumper late in the fourth gave them the biggest lead at 72, 131-59 with 2:22 left in the contest.

The Scores:

PHILIPPINES 136 -- Wright 29, Manuel 24, Rosario 16, Lassiter 15, Ravena 15, Aguilar 12, Slaughter 10, Tenorio 9, Standhardinger 6, Ross 0.

MYANMAR 67 -- Myint 28, Ta 14, Justin 6, Aung 5, Tun Tun 4, Sar 4, La Ja 4, Zaw 2, Zaya 0, Wine 0, Oo 0, Htut 0.

Quarter scores: 32-24, 77-36, 104-49, 136-67

Photo by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas