|
NAKHON
RATCHASIMA—The Philippines is now officially back as
king of basketball in the Southeast Asian Games.
And this
the Harbour Centre-back team did emphatically, and in
big and delirious crowd at the Suranaree University of
Technology Stadium, with a 94-53 rout of a host team
that didn’t look like it will shame the favorites on the
last day of basketball competitions.
“Mission
accomplished. We really prepared for this tournament.
This is the fruit of all our labor,” said head coach
Junel Baculi.
The
sweep came so sweet for a Philippine team that had to
tinker with its pool weeks before the Games because of
suspected weaknesses. But it turned out the opposition
here remained as it was the past seven stagings. The
Philippines won its eighth straight SEA Games title with
an average winning margin of 43 points.
That
domination that won the gold that matters most for a
basketball-crazy country came on a day the
Philippines
squeezed out of a sixth-place nightmare in the overall
medals race to fourth behind the unreachable Thais,
Vietnam and Malaysians.
Perhaps
the men’s basketball team had its appeal to the Thais
that even their princess, Sirivannavari Nariratana, came
to see how her team was massacred by the Filipinos.
The
scene in the middle of the court after the buzzer
sounded never materialized in 2005 when Manila hosted
the Games. The country served a two-year suspension by
the International Basketball Federation or Fiba because
of political intramurals in the national federation. But
after the Fiba lifted the sanction, everything looked
bright for Philippine basketball.
Harbour
Centre owner Dr. Mikee Romero led the sizeable Filipinos
in cheering the team. He then waved a huge Philippine
flag as the Nationals celebrated on the court.
Indonesia
copped the silver medal while Malaysia settled for the
bronze. The Thais lost all their three games in the
event.
The
Thais appeared harnessed for the match as they jumped to
a 13-9 lead on a three-pointer from deep corner by
Piyapong Piroon.
But
after Gabe Norwood buried his own trey that sparked an
18-1 RP run bridging the first and second quarters, the
Filipinos were never threatened, 29-14.
The
Thais unleashed a 12-4 run to close in at 26-33 but
could do nothing better after that.
“I just
told the boys not to give them [Thais] the honor of
beating the gold medalist,” said Baculi.
Beau
Belga and Jason Castro led with 14 points each for the
Nationals, who outrebounded the Thais, 45-22, and
registered 12 steals.
Jervy
Cruz made 12 points and had 14 rebounds, while Al
Vergara also had 12 markers and eight assists.
The
scores
Philippines 94—Castro
14, Belga 14, Cruz 12, Vergara 12, Bautista 8, Norwood
7, Alonzo 7, Chan 6, Rodriguez 5, Fernandez 5,
Salangsang 4, Tan 0
Thailand 53—Piroon 17,
Kaedum 15, Vivattanapongpetch 12, Kruatiwa 4,
Sillapapipat 4, Samoechai 1, Jantharaniyom 0,
Santhiyakul 0, Rai 0
Quarterscores—25-14; 40-28; 65-40; 94-53 |
