9th SEABA Championship: How Philippines won the third straight title – Basketball Special (Part-1)
Two times defending champions Philippines clinched their third successive Southeast Asian Basketball Association title last week after defeating the hosts Indonesian at the BritAma Arena. The Philippines team remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and simply blew away the Indonesians in the final. Ironically, this was the third straight time that the Indonesians have suffered the same fat in the finals.
An overview on their successful journey in the 9th SEABA Championship is discussed below.
Round 1: Philippines 97 – Malaysia 71
Trailing by 5 points going into the halftime, Philippines recovered tremendously in the second half and wrapped up a magnificent 97-71 victory over Malaysia in the opening game of the tournament.
Joseph Evan Casio smashed the Malaysian team with 15 points of his game-high 19 in the third quarter as the Philippines procured a comprehensive advantage and romped towards their first win in the series. Japeth Paul Aguilar carried the momentum down the stretch for Philippines and finished off with 18 points and 5 rebounds.
On the other hand, Yellow Loong Ho and Guganeswaran S Batumalai started off outstandingly in the first quarter of the game. However, both Malaysians went cold after halftime and finished the night with 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Malaysian team unleashed a terrific long distance assault in the first half and buried eight blows from beyond the arc to seal 41-36 advantage. The game turned around completely in the last two quarters though as Philippines scorched the Malaysians with a 61-point blitz.
Round 2: Philippines 94 – Indonesia 54
In the round two of the SEABA championship 2011, the invincible Filipinos took over the Indonesians right from the word go and ripped them apart with a 94-54 victory.
Christopher Ryan Lutz was the highlight of the game with a game-high 20 points and 6 boards. Japeth Paul Aguilar was also terrific and followed Christopher with 19 points and 5 rebounds in just 21 minutes of action.
Andi Poedjakesuma was the only player who landed double figures for the Indonesian team in a completely lopsided game. He racked up 10 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in more than 17 minutes of playing time.
The Filipinos hit their stride right from the word go and by the end of the first quarter, they were already leading by double figures. From there on, Philippines never relinquished their lead and ultimately raced to a blow out 40-point win.
Tags: