TAIPEI – Gilas Pilipinas players Almond Vosotros and Von Pessumal made the most of the playing time they got by scoring 14 points apiece as the national team swamped India, 101-70, in the William Jones Cup yesterday at the Taipei Peace Basketball Gymnasium here.
In only his third game after playing against the Team A of Chinese Taipei (White) and Japan, Pessumal – recently shipped by GlobalPort to Grand Slam seeking San Miguel Beer – nailed four three-pointers while adding three rebounds and one assist in nearly 23 minutes of action.
Vosotros, whose only game was against Taipei’s White team, also connected four triples off the bench, including back-to-back treys that were part of his 10 straight points when he entered the game midway in the third frame.
“It’s a great testament to our other players who doesn’t have playing time,” said national team coach Chot Reyes. “To constantly be ready to give our team some depth and withstand some injuries to Ray Parks, and Kobe Paras. Mac Belo is not yet 100 percent.”
“We wanted to give lots of minutes to the guys. One of the big objective here in the Jones Cup participation is to prepare some of the guys for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games,” said Reyes, referring to the biennial meet starting Aug. 20 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Von, Almond, Fonzo (Alfonzo Gotladera), Mike (Tolomia), Ray (Raymar Jose)… those guys will be important for the SEA Games participation. This is part of our preparation for that competition,” added Reyes.
PHILIPPINES 101 – Wright 19, Pessumal 14, Vosotros 14, Standhardinger 10, Cruz 9, Daquioag 8, Tolomia 8, Jalalon 7, Jose 4, Myers 4, Gotladera 2, Ravena 2.
INDIA 70 – Gill 25, Pandi 14, Sivakumar 7, Poiyamoshi 5, Philip 5, G. Hafeez 5, Gill 4, Gowda 3, Reddy 2.
Quarters: 27-24; 54-31; 80-55; 101-70.
