sinag pilipinas had scary moments through three quarters of the game until they get their composure back and defeated malaysia, 103-74, to advance to the gold medal match against thailand.
ateneo blue eagle greg slaughter led sinag's scoring with 16 points, as malaysia had problems challenging the big man down the paint. cliff hodge and chris ellis, the duo from the nlex road warriors, combined for 19 points for sinag pilipinas. collegiate standouts rr garcia, jake pascual and nico salva remained steady in the offensive front as they scored 11 pointd apiece.
however, garvo lanete suffered a shoulder injury during the game. he might miss the next game against thailand, which will be for the men's basketball championship in the biennial meet.
there were times in the game when malaysia even took the lead from the philippines and sinag just can't pull away earlier in the game just like they did against cambodia, vietnam, and thailand. but consecutive three point plays from chris tiu and jake pascual early in the third quarter sparked a 15-3 run that helped the team claim the victory.
in fairness to malaysia, which fielded players from the westport kuala lumpur dragons of abl fame, they were aggressive in offense through three quarters - attacking the rim, exploiting height mismatches against smaller and younger filipinos, and getting the shots from both the three point range and the charity stripe. in fact, they had more free throw attempts than sinag throughout the game. it seems that the malaysians did their homework by scouting sinag pilipinas well. however, the adjustments made by coach norman black after three quarters caught them by surprise and eventually held them to just 14 points in the final quarter.
once again, every player in sinag's rotation scored in this game. but i give credit to chris tiu for his leadership on court especially in those stretches when malaysia was threatening to upset sinag. since kiefer ravena was mismatched against older and taller malaysian guards, tiu used his experience in international basketball against his malaysian rivals. he might have only scored 7 points in this game, but it was that and-one play and three pointer that bolstered sinag's play in the fourth quarter.
i fell asleep by the end game (with all the work we did for the alumni homecoming) when sinag already led by 15 points midway through the fourth quarter. but i read in the news that a malaysian player hit kiefer ravena with a closed fist in the head towards the end of the game. these malaysians might have just fueled the fire for the philippines' drive for gold as they take on thailand next game.
what could be a concern for sinag pilipinas in their gold medal match is the spotty officiating in the past two games. the number of free throw attempts by their opponents may point to two things: it's either the opponent attacked the rim a lot or the referees blew their whistle too frequently in the game. discovery perlas ng pilipinas, their female counterparts, fell prey to some interesting calls in the endgame of their gold medal match against thailand, including the three pointer at the buzzer which they claim should have only been a two as the thai player stepped on the line. referees and their calls are part of the proverbial breaks of the game, but if philippines want to win it clean, they have to come out the locker room with guns ablaze and thrash thailand on sunday. they might as well avenge perlas' loss to the thai women's basketball team in the process.
The Scores:
Sinag Pilipinas 103 – Slaughter 16, Hodge 12, Garcia 11, Pascual 11, Salva 11, Parks 8, Ellis 7, Tiu 7, Lanete 7, Monfort 6, Ravena 5, Marcelo 2.
Malaysia 74 – Batumalai 24, Kwaan 11, Ooi 10, Wee 8, Ng 7, Chee 5, Kuppusamy 5, Loh 2, Wong 2, Lau 0, Ong 0, Kuek 0.
Quarters: 23-19, 44-41, 73-60, 103-74
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