By REYNALD MAGALLON
It’s been a long while since Gilas Pilipinas was celebrated as a hero by its basketball crazy fans.
And it finally came right on National Heroes Day.
In front of a huge sellout crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena, Jordan Clarkson stamped his class all-game-long as Gilas Pilipinas routed Saudi Arabia, 84-46, in the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers Monday, Aug. 29.
Clarkson helped the Filipinos buck a slow start before spearheading a huge third quarter explosion to shake off a gritty Arabs squad before a huge 19,829 crowd that included President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Clarkson dazzled with an array of highlight plays, long three-point bombs and a thunderous dunk to finish with 23 points, six assists and five rebounds as he picked up his first win in Gilas uniform in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments in his first game at home.
Young guns Kai Sotto and Dwight Ramos continued to impress with the former posting a double-double effort of 16 points and 13 rebounds while the latter finished with nine points and six rebounds including an emphatic dunk against Arab center Mohammed Almarwani that brought the house down with 3:31 left in the first half.
The Filipinos had to buck some jitters in the opening quarter which allowed Saudi Arabia to take a 14-11 lead. Clarkson kept Gilas afloat during that span scoring all of the field goals for a nine point first quarter output before the rest of the Filipinos got their bearings going in the second quarter.
An alley-oop from Clarkson to Kai Sotto before another and-1 play lit the fire from the Filipinos to have their first taste of the lead, 21-18, midway through the second quarter.
A back-breaking 24-8 third quarter explosion spearheaded by Clarkson, Sotto and Ramos then ultimately took the fight out of Saudi Arabia as Gilas built a 61-36 heading into the payoff period.
