Wilhalm Cabonilas, Drei Lorenzo star in Gilas Boys' rout of Indonesia in FIBA U18 Asia Cup opener

Heroes were plenty even for Gilas Pilipinas Boys as they thrashed Indonesia with a 75-48 blowout to kick off the Philippines' campaign at the 2024 FIBA U18 Asia Cup on Monday in Jordan.

The youth national team, despite playing without one of its top scorers in Andy Gemao due to his injury, opened its campaign with a 1-0 slate in Group D while the Indonesians fell to a 0-1 record.

18-year-old Wilhalm Cabonilas stepped up to the plate early on, dropping 13 of his 19 points in the first half to lead Gilas Boys to a rousing 38-16 cushion against the same team they defeated to complete a sweep of the SEABA Qualifiers last July.

Cabonilas continued his scorching offense in the third, burying two three-pointers for a 47-23 lead before his teammates caught fire from downtown as well with Drei Lorenzo, Johnkurl Figueroa, and Charles Esteban knocking down triples for a 63-29 spread to end the frame.

The 6-foot-5 Lorenzo, who suits up for San Beda University Red Cubs in the NCAA juniors tournament, put on the finishing kick after nailing back-to-back triples late that sent them to a comfortable 73-46 lead with 2:39 left.

Cabonilas finished with a team-high 19 points to go with eight rebounds, one steal, and one block while Lorenzo tallied 12 markers on 80-percent shooting from three-point area.

Gilas will look to build on this win when it takes on both Jordan and New Zealand on Wednesday at 12:30 a.m. and at 9:30 p.m., respectively.

The top team in each of the four groups will book an outright quarterfinals ticket while the second and third ranked teams will duke it out in the crossover qualification to the quarterfinals.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News