Nationals beat KL Dragons for second straight victory in FIBA Asia Champions Cup

The Smart Gilas Pilipinas logged their second straight win after they blasted Malaysia’s Westport KL Dragons, 95-64, in the second day of the 2011 FIBA Asia Champions Cup yesterday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The Nationals broke away in the third as they turned what was a 39-40 deficit into a 65-49 lead heading to the fourth period.

Reinforcement Asi Taulava injected the Nationals with the energy that they needed and joined hands with JV Casio and Chris Lutz to stage the breakaway. Chris Tiu, Marco Lassiter and Japeth Aguilar then finished off their opponents with timely baskets in the final canto.

The win was a fitting follow up to the Gilas’ 101-69 victory over Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia. They will next face Jordan tomorrow at 8 pm.

Meanwhile, Al Ittihad-Saudi Arabia bounced back from its opening loss to the Gilas by defeating Duhok-Iraq, 83-75, in the other game yesterday.

Serbian import Vladislav Dragajlovic and Adil Aljuhani dominated the game to power the Saudis to the victory. Dragajlovic had a big outing with 27 points and 15 rebounds.

In a late Saturday game, Fadi El Khatib scored 29 points and seven rebounds as Al Riyadi-Lebanon trounced Al Shabab-United Arab Emirates, 109-90.

Courtney Fields had a game-high 39 points but was no match for El Khatib and the rest of the Al Shabab team.