KUALA LUMPUR – The Philippines, composed mostly of young PBA players, kept its stranglehold of men’s basketball in the Southeast Asian Games as it blasted Indonesia, 94-55, in the gold-medal game at the MABA Stadium here Saturday night.
Meralco guard Mike Tolomia sparkled the most with a 5-of-8 three-point clip and a game-high total of 20 points as the Filipinos easily hurdled the Indons to complete a perfect ride to another SEAG crown.
TNT KaTropa’s Troy Rosario, Alaska Milk’s Bryan Cruz, Ginebra’s Kevin Ferrer and Meralco’s Baser Amer had essential help as the Nationals nailed a 12th straight crown that they’re defending in Manila in 2019.
“This is the best game we played in the tourney. We hit our shots and luckily it happened in the gold-medal game,” said Gilas coach Jong Uichico.
“Nobody wanted to lose, and it helped that coach Chot Reyes was there,” said Uichico, helped out in the final match by the Gilas program chief who flew in Friday fresh from their FIBA Asia Cup stint in Lebanon.
Sponsored content:
The Filipinos scored a five-game sweep, with earlier victories over Thailand (81-74), Myanmar (129-34) and Malaysia (98-66) in the elims and over Singapore (68-60) in the semis.
The Nationals slowly pulled away in the second period and refused to slow down even as the Indons had given up the fight as early as in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
In the course of putting the finishing touches in the win, young sensation Kobe Paras showcased highlight slams that sent the Filipino crowd on their feet.
Paras fired 14 markers while PBA D-League MVP Raymar Jose collected 12 markers just in 12 minutes of action as the Philippines stretched to 10 years a streak of unbeaten run in the Games.
Team Phl hasn’t dropped a game in the SEAG since Romel Adducul and his teammates lost one match before wrapping up the crown in Jakarta in 1997.
Sponsored content:
Kiefer Ravena made history as the first Filipino cager to win four SEAG gold medals.
Rosario, Ferrer and Almond Vosotros scored second straight SEAG championship while Uichico also bagged his second after steering Team Phl to a title run in the 2013 Games in Naypyidaw. It’s also a second one for Bobby Ray Parks after his stint in the 2011 Jakarta Games.
The scores:
Philippines 94 – Tolomia 20, Paras 14, Jose 12, Standhardinger 11, Rosario 8, Ravena 7, Cruz 6, Pessumal 5, Ferrer 5, Amer 4, Parks 2, Vosotros 0.
Indonesia 55 – Pratama 10, Kurniawan 10, Wisnu 6, Enguio 5, Kisasih 4, Nugroho 4, Sitepu 4, Dhyaksa 4, Grahita 2, Sitorus 2, Lakudu 2, Wuysang 2.
Quarterscores: 19-15, 45-27, 67-38, 94-55
