Gilas Pilipinas thumped Thailand, 108-53, to roll to another win in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship (Seaba) on Tuesday night.
Taking on their first real test, the Filipino dribblers led by just four points after the first quarter, but turned it up a notch from thereon to coast to their fourth straight victory in front of a sizeable crowd at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
PHILIPPINES vs THAILAND
EVENTS: 2017 SEABA - FIBA QUALIFYING
Japeth Aguilar provided the biggest spark off the bench, firing 23 points after making all his nine shots, on top of grabbing five boards in just 17 minutes to lead the Filipinos who dealt the Thais their second loss in five games.
IT was a reward that was supposed to motivate Thailand, yet it pumped the Philippines up even more.
Sources said that a major sponsor of the Thai national team dangled a bonus of 8 million baht if the team lost by just 10 points or less to Gilas Pilipinas in their Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Championship matchup on Tuesday night.
The reward would go up to as much as 10 million baht or roughly P14.4 million if the Thais had pulled off an upset the Filipino dribblers altogether.