Nationals bounce back

MANILA, Philippines — The Gilas Pilipinas title-repeat quest is back in business.

Thirty hours after a fumbling opening bow in the 20th Asian Games in Japan, the Nationals restored order via a 109-78 bounce back at the expense of Kazakhstan last night at the Aichi International Arena.

With their 85-89 defeat to Bahrain Friday afternoon serving as a wakeup call, the Justin Brownlee-less Pinoy dribblers cranked it up – especially in outside shooting and defense – against the Kazakhs in the Group C matchup critical in the chase for quarterfinal tickets.

The 31-point romp boosted Gilas’ standing to third spot with three points on a 1-1 win-loss card behind mighty China, which jacked up its mark to four points on an immaculate 2-0 after demolishing Bahrain in the other game, 105-59.

The Filipinos are now level on points with the second-running Bahrainis (three points on 1-1).

After firing bricks and going scoreless last time, Jerrick Ahanmisi, Robert Bolick and Sedrick Barefield presided over a searing long-range bombing by Gilas that ignited their breakaway.

The trio combined for 14 of their 16 triples as the Nationals fired at a hot 55-percent marksmanship from beyond the arc – a major upgrade from their meager 29-percent clip (10-of-34) in the loss to Bahrain.

Ahanmisi went 7-of-11 from three (64 percent) as he rifled in a team-high 22, making a bunch of them in the fourth where Gilas put the game beyond Kazakhstan’s reach with a 27-12 salvo.

Bolick converted four of his six attempts from deep for 20 points, his fiery offense helping the Philippine seize a double-digit spread early on.

Barefield knocked down three three-balls out of five shots en route to 11 markers as he joined Ahamisi, Bolick, Calvin Oftana (12) and Zav Lucero (10) in the Gilas scoring parade.

The defending champions next face the unbeaten Chinese tomorrow with a chance to seal their spot in the Last-8 either as Top 2 in their group or one of two best third-placed teams across the three groups.