SMART Gilas-Pilipinas demolished for the second time around a listless Indonesia five, 89-50, to run away with the ninth Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) championship on Sunday night at the BritAma Arena in Jakarta.
With the stakes higher but the probability of defeat again close to nil, the Nationals were simply unforgiving against the same team they blew away by 40 points in the eliminations, displaying the same defensive intensity that allowed them to dominate and complete a four-game sweep of the tournament that served as a qualifier to the Fiba-Asia men’s basketball tournament from September 15 to 25 in Wuhan, China.
The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, 1-2-3 in the tournament, will represent the region in the Wuhan meet which will select Asia’s lone representative to the 2012 London Olympics.
The Nationals routed their rivals in Jakarta with an average winning margin of 40 points—Malaysia, 97-71; Indonesia, 94-54; and Singapore, 106-51—in the preliminaries.
“We have two goals here, to make it to the Wuhan Olympic qualifier, and to win this tournament. And we’ve achieved both,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.
Smart Gilas raced to a 23-6 lead, but unleashed its best in the second half when it scored 17 unanswered points to start the third period anchored on Mac Baracael’s hot shooting hands.
All nine players, who were all Toroman had for the tournament as the others nursed injuries, scored four points or more, with coskipper Mark Barroca leading the way with 17 and Marcus Douthit with 16. Team captain Chris Tiu and Baracael chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Nationals held a 46-27 lead at the break following a tightly called first half.
As expected, the Nationals dominated the boards after the first two quarters with 22 rebounds compared with the 13 by the Indonesians.
Showing the same defensive intensity they had in their first meeting, the Nationals seized a commanding 31-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Barroca made all his five shots, including a triple in transition, for 11 points to fuel the Filipinos’ early run.
The scores
Smart Gilas-Pilipinas (89)—Barroca 17, Douthit 16, Tiu 13, Baracael 12, Aguilar 9, Lutz 7, Ababou 6, Casio 5, Ballesteros 4.
Indonesia (50)—Gunawan 14, Ahmad 12, Prawiro 11, Poedjakesuma 4, Indrawan 4, Prihantono 3, Setepu 2, Aryo 0, Chandra 0, Wuysang 0, Thoyib 0, Situmorang 0.
Quarter scores: 31-10; 46-27; 67-35; 89-50.
