MANAMA (Bahrain) - It took a while for the young guns of the Philippines to shake off the rust. When they did, however, they managed to leave Thailand in the dust with a 93-61 win.

This match was rescheduled from the previous window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers earlier this year.

Thailand got off to a promising start to the game as they knocked down 5-13 three-pointers in the opening interval. Nakorn Jaisanuk, in particular, shined for Thailand with 4 of his own long bombs as Thailand were able to stay within striking distance, down 21-19.

The Philippines quickly adjusted in the second quarter and never allowed Thailand to come close throughout the rest of the game. It wasn’t until just under the 8-minute mark of the second quarter that Juan Gomez De Liaño knocked down the first three-pointer of the game for the Philippines, which opened a floodgate of scoring from there on out.

Juan Gomez De Liaño finished with 12 points in the game, tied for second most along with another standout, young big man Justine Baltazar.

The breakout star for the Philippines, however, was Dwight Ramos who went perfect from the field (7-7), beyond the three-point line (2-2), and the charity stripe (4-4) to finish with 20 points. The youngster who made his national team debut in Window 1 also recorded 7 rebounds and 3 assists in just under 20 minutes of play.

The Philippines remain undefeated so far in the Qualifiers with this victory, 2-0, before they head on to face Thailand once again in their first game of the Window 2 on November 30.

Thailand won’t have much time to regroup as they will face Indonesia tomorrow, November 30, as their first game of Window 2. That will be their chance to crack into the win column after also losing to Korea in the February window.

FIBA