Pinoy cagers hurdle strong Thais in opener

KUALA LUMPUR– The Philippines-Cebuana Lhuillier got off to a slow start but came through with a roaring finish to run over Thailand, 83-56, Tuesday night in the Southeast Asian Basketball Championships opening day here.

PBL stars Gary David and Emmerson Oreta sprang into action delivering a combined nine points in the Nationals’ 11-0 spurt in the second quarter that put the outcome beyond doubt.

The win put the Philippines in a strong position for the title in this single-round robin tourney which awards the crown to the team with the best standing.

The country was to face Vietnam late Wednesday before going against the Malaysia. The host defeated Vietnam, 90-75, in the other opening-day match.

"It took the boys sometime to focus in the game but it well came together," said RP coach Aric del Rosario, referring to the RP-Cebuana Lhuillier team’s sluggish start which allowed the Thais to momentarily take the lead, 24-23, on a jumper by Dilip Rai with 4:48 left in the second period.

That jump shot silenced the sizeable Filipino crowd–made up of students and employees working here–at the Malaysia Basketball Association gym, and for a moment cast doubt on the Philippines’ readiness.

But the 24-year-old David erased it soon enough with a long three-pointer and followed it up with a fastbreak layup. Oreta, Del Rosario’s former go to guy in the University of Sto. Tomas, also finished back-to-back fastbreaks after that.

Former Far Eastern hotshot Celino Cruz capped the run with a long jumper to give the Philippines a 34-24 cushion that even balloned to as big as 20 points (70-40) midway through the fourth period.