The Smart Gilas team of Serbian coach Rajko Toroman has served notice of its readiness to play in the Philippine Basketball Association.

And they showed it by beating the country’s cream of the crop.

Relying not on anyone but everyone, Smart Gilas easily demolished an out-of-shape and undermanned Powerade-Pilipinas team, 98-69, Monday in the “Pinoy Basketball, Kakampi N’yo" fund-raising game at the Araneta Coliseum.

CJ Giles and Japeth Aguilar combined forces in possibly the most formidable frontline in Philippine basketball. Andy Barroca and JV Casio alternately played the point and held their own against their more experienced counterparts. And Dylan Ababou, Aldrech Ramos and Jason Ballesteros did a little bit of everything in handing Smart Gilas an easy triumph.

Powerade-Pilipinas slotman Sonny Thoss, right, harasses Smart-Gilas guard Chris Tiu during Monday’s `Pinoy Basketball, Kakampi Nyo’ fund-raising game at the Araneta Coliseum. GMANews.TV
It was a game dominated by Toroman’s wards majority of the way.

They were only feeling their way around in the first few minutes of the first period, trailing by seven, 7-14, with James Yap and Willie Miller leading the way for Powerade.

Then came a big scoring outburst by Smart Gilas.

Giles and Aguilar made their presence felt inside and JV Casio fired a trey to cap off a big 17-5 exchange as the all-amateur team seized a 24-19 lead at the end of the first.

It was all Smart Gilas from there, leading by as many as 20 points twice in the third canto.

And with Giles and Chris Tiu combining for a one scintillating play to complete an alley-oop slam and push Smart Gilas to a 92-76 lead with only 2:16 left, the curtains finally fell on the all-pro Powerade-Pilipinas five, which didn’t have the chance of practicing since its eighth-place finish in the last FIBA Asia Championship.

Overall, Smart Gilas outplayed Powerade in almost all fronts.

Toroman’s troops shot the ball decently, making 37 of 78 attempts for a 47% clip, while Powerade struggled all game long and shot only 34%.

Smart Gilas, as expected, played better as a team, dishing out 17 assists more than Powerade-Pilipinas.

On rebounds, Giles, Aguilar and Ballesteros were too much as they terrorized the shaded lane and clobbered their rivals. Smart Gilas grabbed 60 rebounds to only 36 by Powerade.

Former Los Angeles Laker Giles finished with 22 points, 16 rebounds and five shot blocks for Smart Gilas, which will play as a guest team in the coming PBA wars. Aguilar, the controversial top overall pick who previously suited up for Powerade-RP, had 24 points and four rebounds.

A project of basketball stockholders in the country led by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the PBA, the game was held for the benefit of victims of tropical storm “Ondoy" and in memory of Barako Bull executive Tony Chua, who perished at the height of the storm. (GMANews.TV)