No Mercy: Energen Pilipinas crushes Laos by 96 points in SEABA Under-18

The Philippine youth team in action in last year's FIBA Asia Under-16 championship. InterAKTV/Mikkel Bolante

The Energen Pilipinas national youth team cruised to an easy win in their first assignment after crushing Laos, 124-28, in the 8th Southeast Asian Basketball Association Under-18 Championship in Singapore.

The Philippines got off to a hot start, outscoring their opponents by 24 points in the first period, before all but sealing it in the second with a huge 30-2 quarter to enter halftime leading 64-12.

Mario Bonleon of La Salle Greenhills led six Filipinos in double figures with 24 points, only four points shy of their opponents’ total. Letran’s Rey Nambatac had 17 points while Kent Lao of UST (16 points and 15 rebounds) and Prince Rivero of La Salle Greenhills (12 and 10) both had double-doubles for the team.

UE’s RR De Leon and J-Jay Alejandro of NU chipped in 16 points and 12 points, respectively.

Aphakone Phommasone led Laos with 10 points.

The boys of Philippines coach Olsen Racela completely dominated the game, shooting 58-of-96 for a 60% shooting clip while holding Laos down to 11-of-68 (16%). The Filipinos outscored Laos 102-10 in points in the paint and outrebounded their opponents 69-19.

Up next for the Energen Pilipinas squad is host Singapore, which opened its campaign with a dominant 123-19 victory over Laos on Tuesday.

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