JAKARTA – The country’s amateur cagers proved more than enough to get the job done in winning the SEA Games men’s championship, routing Thailand, 85-57, last night to complete their golden mission here.
Sinag Pilipinas, a mix of collegiate stars and PBA D-League mainstays, just won’t let the gold medal that mattered most slip away, posting an unassailable lead right in the first half en route to scoring another blowout win to cap a masterful five-game sweep.
“This means a lot to us, not just for me but the whole team. We’re very happy to win the gold and make the country proud,” said Sinag Phl coach Norman Black.
FIBA Asia veteran Chris Tiu and his younger teammates, who trained together for only three weeks, twice tore apart the Thais, whose core members were part of the Thai team that ruled the last ABL (Asean Basketball League) championship.
They also fashioned out overwhelming victories over Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia earlier.
“What’s amazing about this team is it’s a young team. It shows that we have a bright future ahead of us,” said Black.
UAAP stars Greg Slaughter, Bobby Ray Parks and RR Garcia put in double-digit outputs to lead the Nationals to their gold-medal game conquest, stretching the country’s reign in SEAG men’s basketball to 20 years.
Meanwhile in boxing, with two gold medals and one bronze, the Philippine boxers bid for a finish of four golds as Charly Suarez and Dennis Galvan go up against Indonesian rivals in the finals of the boxing competitions today at the Basketball Hall at the heart of the city here.