9th SEABA Championship: How Philippines won the third straight title – Basketball Special (Part-2)
Round 3: Philippines 106 – Singapore 51
After taking out the Malaysians and the Indonesians in the previous two rounds, the resurgent Filipinos showcased yet another breathtaking offensive onslaught and routed Singapore with what turned out to the tournament’s biggest victory margin (106-51) in the round three of the 2011 SEABA Championship.
Six player from Philippines landed double figures on the night as they romped towards the third consecutive win in as many days. Philippines restricted the Singaporeans to just 9 points in the first quarter.
Andy Mark Barroca and Japeth Paul Aguilar erupted with 18 points apiece to spearhead Philippines. Jason Ballesteros wasn’t pretty impressive offensively; however he proved to be a giant on the glass and gathered a game-high 16 rebounds.
On the other hand, Wei Long Wong led Singapore with a game-high 20 points and 5 boards in nearly 30 minutes of playing time. However, the rest of the team failed to pick up the slack.
Philippines scorched the Singaporeans with a 30-point blitz in the first quarter and wrapped a comprehensive 21 points advantage from where the opposition never stood up. Despite of a huge lead, Philippines never lowered their guard and kept on carving through the Singapore defence.
Finals: Philippines 89 – Indonesia 50
The Indonesian team grasped the BritAma Arena hoping that they could beat the spirited Philippines this year in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association championship after being undone in the last two finals by the same opposition.
History however repeated itself yet again as they just couldn’t match the all round brilliance of the Filipinos and succumbed to an 89-50 win.
Philippines coach Rajko Toroman said after the game, “We again came out strong and hardly gave them a chance to make a run. We shot bad in the second quarter but we didn’t let them score for more than seven minutes in the third. It was the same story: We stopped their penetrations while playing aggressive in offense”
The Philippines team very brisk from the very start made good on one possession after another to carry a 31-10 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Indonesian tried hard to mount a comeback, but the only success they got in the frame was that they were able to outscore the Filipinos by two points to go into the break, 19 behind at 27-46.
The two times defending champions however bounced back in the second and reduced the hosts to just 23 points in the next 20 minutes to accomplish the three peat.
Tags: