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Philippines won their opening match against India and Kazakhstan stunned Chinese Taipei at the Asian Games basketball competition in Incheon, South Korea on Tuesday.
After their stint at the recently concluded FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, Gilas Pilipinas showed their confidence as they jumped ahead 16-0 in the first quarter mainly due to the outside scoring of Lewis Alfred "LA" Tenorio and Jeffrei Chan.
The Philippine national squad went on to finish the first quarter with an eight point lead and added five more points to end 50-37 in the first half.
Singh Amritpal and Singh Amjyot tried to stage a comeback in the fourth quarter with a couple of three point shots but came a little too late as the Philippines win the match 85-76 at the Hwaseong Sports Complex.
Center Marcus Douthit and Chan both scored 14 points to top the Filipinos while Amritpal top scored for the Indian team with 16 points.
The Philippine squad hopes to win its match against Iran on Thursday in order to top Group E for a better position in the quarterfinals.
In Group C, Kazakhstan surprised Chinese Taipei as they won their third match after the qualifying rounds 74-68 at the Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon.
The Kazakhs started out strong in the first quarter as they took the lead 23-14 and never looked back, winning the match 74-68.
Anatoliy Kolesnikov and Dmitriy Gavrilov topped the Kazakhstan nationals with 18 points with Anton Ponomarev adding 10 points plus 11 rebounds.
Ju Lu Cheng top scored for Chinese Taipei with 17 points while Lei Tien and Chih Chieh Lin added 11 points each.
Kazakhstan joined Group C after winning against Saudi Arabia and Palestine in the qualifying rounds before losing to India.
The Kazakhstan nationals will next face defending champions China on Wednesday in hopes to top their group and enter the quarterfinal rounds.
