SEA Games Basketball : Sinag Pilipinas routs Thailand for 3rd win

Source : Reynaldo Belen, InterAKTV

JAKARTA–Facing its toughest test yet in the 26th Southeast Asian Games men’s basketball tournament, the Sinag Pilipinas national team got contributions from everyone.


The Filipinos cruised to another easy win – their third in as many games – this one over a highly-physical Thailand squad, 103-69, on Wednesday at the BritAma Arena.

Cliff Hodge paced six Filipino players in double figures as he scored a game-high 15 points. UAAP teammates Kiefer Ravena, Nico Salva and Greg Slaughter chipped in 14, 12 and 11 points respectively. Chris Ellis added 11 and Rayray Parks 10 for the Philippines.

“It was another good game for us. We played unselfish basketball. The guys out there were willing to share the ball aside from playing good defense,” said Black. “Our emphasis coming to this tournament was to rely on our defense and let our offense flow from there.”

The win enabled the Philippines to secure the top spot in the semifinal round after topping Group A with a 3-0 record.

“We’ve figured we’re going to play Malaysia unless Singapore beat Indonesia by a large margin,” added Black. “But we will prepare for both of them.”

Malaysia, which lost to Indonesia, 45-59, is expected to wind up as No. 2 in Group B with the host squad likely to top Group B with a perfect record.

The Philippines showed tenacity on the defensive end, holding the Thais to just one field goal in the last five minutes of the third period and posting a 75-49 lead headed to the fourth period.

And with their defense holding, the Filipinos were able to get easy points in transition. Ellis had two rim-rattling dunks on fastbreaks, the latter giving Sinag a commanding 90-55 lead with just 5:01 left in the game.

“We’re happy to be on top and everybody was having a great time out there,” said Ravena, son of former PBA player and current Talk ‘N Text assistant coach Bong Ravena.

Thailand coach Manu Niyomy Indee knew what the Sinag squad was capable of.

“The Philippines is No. 1 in Southeast Asia and we knew that, but in today’s game, we missed a lot of free throws and turned the ball over too many times,” said Manu through an interpreter.

“There were a lot of players who failed to join us in the tournament because of the flood in Thailand. Some of them cannot come because they chose to stay there to help their families,” added Manu.

Several members of the Thailand national team play for the Chang Thailand Slammers, who won the championship in the Asean Basketball League last season.

The scores:
Philippines (103) – Hodge 15, Ravena 14, Salva 12, Slaughter 11, Ellis 11, Parks 10, Lanete 8, Garcia 7, Monfort 6, Marcelo 3, Pascual 0.

Thailand (69)—Apiromvilachai 12, Klahan 11, Kongkum 8, Kaedum 8, Jantuma 7, Shangtong 6, Lertmalaiporn 5, Kruatiwa 5, Apiromvilachai 2, Ghogar 2, Rittiphanyawong 0.

Quarterscores: 37-21; 54-34; 75-49; 103-69.