MEDAN, Indonesia: Playing in a hostile environment for the first time, Team Pilipinas last night passed a test in character with little sweat.
The Filipinos shut out a raucous Indonesian crowd and zoomed to their second straight blowout victory, a 103-64 annihilation of the hosts that gave them the first title game slot in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association men’s cage championship.
A full-packed Angkasapura Lanud Hall here made up mostly of rabid Indonesian fans made their dislike of the Filipinos known right from the opening tip. But the Philippines simply had too much firepower and eventually toyed with its foe.
James Yap drilled in five triples on the way to finishing with 21 points, and Arwind Santos chipped in with 18 as the Filipinos broke away in the second quarter to win pulling away and get the chance to take it easy against Singapore today.
“Am I satisfied? Yes, definitely,” Philippine coach Yeng Guiao told international reporters during a conference afterwards. “I knew we could play better (compared to the Malaysia game on Saturday) and I am a lot relieved seeing how the boys played.
Team Philippines winds up its elimination stint against Singapore in a no-bearing match tonight at 8 before clashing with either Malaysia or Indonesia in the title game tomorrow.
Malaysia, which took a 100-73 beating at the hands of the Filipinos Saturday night, survived a young Singaporean crew, 88-79 earlier, for a 1-1 card like the Indons, their game today to tell who will face the Philippines in the title match even if the Filipinos default their game against the Singaporeans.
The Philippines had just a 20-14 lead at the end of the first period before a barrage of triples early in the second quarter triggered the breakaway.
Yap, the one-time PBA MVP and Purefoods top gun, gunned down the last three of four straight triples during that crippling run as the Filipinos zoomed to a 42-22 lead with still 3:28 left at the half.
It was a virtual round robin from thereon, with the Philippines highlighting the game with a number of rim-rattlers, Gabe Norwood’s tomahawk jam to finish a 3-on-2 break with 9:35 left proving to be the most applauded of all.
Norwood, who started out at the point with Ryan Reyes sustaining a hamstring injury Saturday against the Malaysians, finished with 11 points, that dunk giving the Filipinos a 77-45 lead.
Willie Miller, the other point guard left in the roster, finished with 12 markers, while Asi Taulava had 10 points, nine rebounds. Kerby Raymundo chipped in with eight points on top of 10 boards.
Meanwhile, Reyes is definitely out for the rest of this tournament, but Guiao, in an earlier interview with Arab News, said that he is not about to look into a possible replacement.
“For me, the time to determine the final line-up would be in the Jones Cup,” Guiao said, the final lineup he was referring to being the Fiba-Asia World Championship qualifier to be held in China in August.
“We still have to check the extent of his injury before we decide on that,” Guiao added. “I will only consider looking at other players (for the point guard spot) if both Ryan and Jay-Jay (Helterbrand) won’t be available.” Halterbrand made the trip to here but is not playing also because of a hamstring injury.
As of now, it is only Kelly Williams, the reigning PBA MVP, who is out of the Fiba-Asia tournament as Guiao said that he has advised the prolific Fil-American to take it easy for a while after being downed by a blood disease last April.
Against Malaysia, Team Philippines blew hot and cold in the first three periods before being able to pour it all on in the fourth and win pulling away. Still, it wasn’t an outing which truly impressed coach Yeng Guiao, most especially so after losing his only remaining natural point guard in the lineup for the rest of the tournament and for two important international events in the next two months.
The Nationals held the Malaysians to just 10 first quarter points and were up by 20 early in the third, 49-29, after Cyrus Baguio nailed one of the many acrobatic lay-ups he had for the night which tickled the fancy of a pro-Indonesian crowd.
And when it looked like the Filipinos would finish in cruise control after that with a 51-29 lead, the Malaysians fought hard and chopped the lead down to 10 twice, the last at 43-53 after a triple by Lo See Fai heading into the last 5:37 of the period.
But Miller, a natural scorer, hit seven straight points inside the game’s telling run, a 17-4 bomb that had the Filipinos scampering away for good, 70-47 with still 2:30 left to play in the period.
The Filipinos also provided a great show, not disappointing a small number of their countrymen by coming up with several highlight reel plays.
Arwind Santos and Jared Dillinger nailed a couple of scintillating alley-oop dunks that had the crowd on its feet, showcasing the huge disparity in talent in this field as far as the rest of those in the tournament are concerned.
The top two placers after this tournament will earn slots to the Fiba-Asia World Basketball Championship qualifying slated in August in Tianjin, China, where the top three placers there will snatch berths to the tournament proper in Istanbul, Turkey, next year.
