Sinag cagers pound Thais, near sweep

NAY PYI TAW – Sinag Pilipinas rolled past what it deemed as its toughest test in pursuit of a 16th SEA Games basketball crown as it demolished Thailand, 100-68, to move two wins away from sweeping the seven-team field.

Kevin Ferrer fired 23 points and Jake Pascual dished out a 15-point, 10-rebound production as the Filipinos took charge early, 54-33, and romped off with a stronger finishing kick at the Zeyar Thiri Indoor Stadium here.

The endgame was a scuffle between players of both sides and the Filipinos leading at 90-54, but coach Jong Uichico simply shrugged off the incident.

“It happens when the lead becomes too big. May nag-iinit ang ulo,” he said.

More wins by Sinag over Indonesia in a match set 10 a.m. (11:30 a.m. Manila) Saturday and Malaysia Sunday will complete the expected sweep by the many-time champions of the biennial meet.

Uichico knows exactly how the feat could be achieved.

“If we only play as consistent as we did today then our chances would be better,” said Uichico.

“It’s nice to have them focusing on the game, especially on defense. If we could take this over to our two remaining games then ma-a-achieve natin ang goal.”

The way his charges played the kind of stifling, pressure defense against the Thais pleases Uichico even more.

“I think they took to heart what we’ve been saying all along, that they should be taking each game seriously. Baka mangyari kasi may makalusot sa amin. But today they were really focused,” said Uichico.