The Gilas Pilipinas got their Asian Games 2023 campaign off to a winning start, beating Bahrain 89-61 in their first Preliminary Round Group C match. Angelo Kouame and CJ Perez had 15 points each as the Gilas Pilipinas launched their 19th Asian Games tournament with a convincing victory over Round Group C rivals, Bahrain, at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium.

The Philippines started the game strong, taking a 10-6 lead in the first few minutes. Bahrain fought back to tie the game at 13-13, but the Philippines responded to take a 22-18 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Philippines continued to dominate in the second quarter, extending their lead to 32-22 with still 07:19 remaining. The Philippines led by as many as 28 points in the third quarter, and they cruised to an easy victory in the end.

Justin Brownlee lead the Philippines with 20 points, 9 rebs and 3 assists. Brownlee got a lot of help from Kouame and Perez who both contributed 15 points, and Calvin Oftana, also chipped in 10 points, 3 rebs and 3 assists.

Bahrain was led by Maitham Jameel A. Mahdi Almoathin, who had 14 points, and Mustafa Husain Ali Ahmed Rashed, who had 13 points.

As a team, Gilas grabbed 52 rebs against Bahrain’s 38 rebounds, and Gilas are 33.33% in the three-point line, while Bahrain are 31.5%. Bahrain was also hurt in field goal column making only 19 of 64, while Gilas is 30 of 65, which 46% FG.

The Philippines’ victory over Bahrain is a good start to their Asian Games campaign. They will now look to build on this momentum when they face Thailand this 28th of Sept. at the Zhejiang University Zijingang Gymnasium.

The Scores:

• Philippines (89) – Brownlee 20, Perez 15, Kouame 15, Oftana 10, Fajardo 8, Lassiter 8, Thompson 5, Newsome 3, Alas 2, Aguilar 2, Ross 1, Tolentino 0.
• Bahrain (61) – Almoathin14, Rashed M. 13, Rashed A. 12, Buallay 8, Melad 6, Chism 5, Hamoda 3, Alhaddad 0, Alhassan 0, Kadhem 0, Hasan 0.

Quarter scores: 22-18, 51-33, 72-47, 89-61.