MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas could not get anything going against the New Zealand Tall Blacks in their first game of the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asia Qualifiers, suffering a lopsided 106-60 loss at the EventFinda Stadium in Auckland on Thursday.
Bringing only an 11-man roster due to injuries, the Nationals struggled against the towering Kiwis.
The Filipinos were within two points early, 9-11, before their opponents uncorked a 12-1 run punctuated by free throws by Taylor Britt to push the lead to double digits, 23-10.
But it was a second frame where New Zealand limited Gilas to just eight points while scoring 24 markers of their own that blew the game wide open.
It was a wire-to-wire victory for the Tall Blacks, who ballooned their lead to as big as 46 points in the second half.
The Tall Blacks limited Gilas to a sorry shooting percentage of 33.87% while shooting 50.67% of their own.
The home team also converted on 32 points off of 19 turnovers.
Carl Tamayo was the lone bright spot for Gilas with 16 points and five rebounds.
But Tamayo tweaked his ankle early in the fourth salvo that sidelined him for the rest of the game.
Rhenz Abando added 11 points while Dwight Ramos chipped in six points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Dion Prewster paced the Tall Blacks with 15 points.
Gilas, which is now 1-2 in Group A, hopes to bounce back against India here in Manila on Sunday.