Gilas Pilipinas demolishes Cambodia by 68

Gilas Pilipinas chalked up win No. 2 in the 31st Southeast Asian Games with a routine 100-32 rout of lowly Cambodia Tuesday night in Hanoi, Vietnam.

After a hard struggle against Thailand, the Nationals, as expected, had an easy night against the Cambodian quintet – a side that started participating in SEAG basketball only in 2007 in Nakhon Ratchasima.

In all their SEAG stints, the Cambodians could finish no better than sixth.

June Mar Fajardo and his teammates could face some challenge against Singapore Wednesday, Vietnam Thursday and Malaysia Saturday before the keenly awaited Philippine-Indonesia setto where the Nationals face the Rajko Toroman-mentored squad bannered by former Cleveland Cavalier Marques Bolden.

Though barely getting past the Thais, 76-73, the Nationals got on the right track and hope to get going to achieve the target that they can’t afford to miss – a 14th straight gold medal in SEAG men’s basketball.

Another goal is to make up for a bungled title-retention bid in men’s 3×3 where Brandon Rosser, Marvin Hayes, Reymar Caduyac and Jorey Napoles settled for the bronze.

Bearing the brunt of the Nationals’ fright night versus the Thais were the Cambodians.

The scores:

Philippines 100 – Lopez 17, Navarro 16, Tungcab 14, Go 13, Wright 10, Montalbo 8, T. Ravena 5, Fajardo 5, Rosario 4, Pogoy 4, K. Ravena 2, Tautuaa 2.

Cambodia 32 – Seng 8, Tep 7, So 7, Hu 6, Chin 2, Soy 2, Kun 0, Thea 0, Khou 0, Te 0.

Quarterscores: 32-9, 57-17, 71-23, 100-32.