Gilas Pilipinas cruised past Qatar on Sunday evening, 80-74, sweeping the entire Group B and heading into the quarterfinals of the Fiba Asia Cup 2017 unscathed.
The nationals repelled the pesky Qataris behind Matthew Wright who led the Philippines with a game high 25 points at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beiruin Beirut, Lebanon.
Wright boosted his squad’s early efforts to keep the Qataris winless scoring 11 of his 25 in the first quarter.
However, Qatar kept on fighting, led by Mansour Elhadary, and got back within five in the fourth but were unable to get over the hump.
The Philippines were hot from beyond the arc, knocking down nine of their fifteen triples in the first half in front of a raucous crowd to remain in control.
Carl Bryan Cruz added 13 markers scoring most of his points in the second half while Gabe Norwood shot 2-of-4 from 3-point territory ending the game with 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and two blocks.
The Philippines earned a ticket to the quarterfinals after defeating China and Iraq in the Group B’s round robin stage.
They will either face Japan or South Korea on August 16.
The scores:
Philippines (80) – Wright 25, Cruz 13, Romeo 10, Norwood 10, William 6, Pogoy 5, Almazan 4, Aguilar 3, Jalalon 2, Fajardo 0, Standhardinger 0
Qatar (74) – Elhadary 23, Saad 18, Erfan 9, Abdelhaleem 8, Mohamed 6, Al-Muftah 6, Mohamed 6, Mohmmed 4, Al-Darwish 0, Salem 0, Abdelkawy, 0, Al-Rayes 0
Quarter scores: 25-16, 41-27, 59-47, 80-74