Nationals rest Douthit but still come up with 52-point win over hapless Macau squad

The Smart-Gilas Pilipinas hardly broke any sweat as it cruised to its third win in a row after manhandling Macau, 98-46, at the end of the preliminary round of the 4th Fiba Asia Cup yesterday in Tokyo, Japan.

The win assured the Gilas of a tie for the lead in group A with a 3-1 (win-loss) record.

Even without naturalized player Marcus Douthit, who was given the day off, the Nationals were just too much for their opponents to handle as Jeff Chan continued his hot shooting streak with 18 points, a day after scoring 20 against Uzbekistan.

Gary David and Jay-R Reyes also tallied 12 points apiece. Jared Dillinger had 11 markers while Matt Rosser had an impressive showing with a near-triple-double of 11 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

The Nationals set the tone early on as they overwhelmed Macau from the get-go with a 14-0 blast en route to erecting a 33-14 lead after the first 10 minutes of action.

Just like in the team’s last game, Chan was at the forefront of the surge as he scored 13 of his points in that stretch spiked by three three-point bombs.

Macau tried to fight back in the second period where it came to within 13, 32-45. But the Gilas simply had too many weapons as Rosser made a layup and followed by booming treys from Gabe Norwood and Chan that gave the Philippines a 55-33 lead at halftime.

Lebanon (2-1) and China (2-1) are trailing the Gilas in the group A standings.