By Waylon Galvez
Standings W L
Group A
Philippines 2 0
Vietnam 2 1
Singapore 1 2
Myanmar 0 2
Group B
Thailand 2 0
Indonesia 1 1
Malaysia 0 2
Cambodia 0 2
Games Saturday (Mall of Asia Arena)
3:45 p.m. – Cambodia vs Indonesia (M)
6:00 p.m. – Thailand vs Malaysia (M)
8:15 p.m. – Philippines vs Myanmar (M)
Gilas Pilipinas’ Matthew Wright against Singapore.
Gilas Pilipinas used a big second half to beat Vietnam 110-69 and claim an outright semifinal berth in basketball action of the 30th Southeast Asian Games Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
June Mar Fajardo, the reigning five-time Most Valuable Player in the PBA, finished with 23 points – 12 of which came in the third frame when he led the team’s attack to take control of the game.
From a 52-40 halftime lead, the national team used a 10-0 run capped by a layup from Troy Rosario that gave the Philippines a 62-40 advantage with 7:42 left in the third period.
That was enough for the Filipinos to slowly but surely pull away from Vietnam.
“We expect ourselves to wear down teams. We are 12-man deep, with our depth, and with our talent we can wear down teams. But we just have to be patient,” said national team coach Tim Cone.
“We kinda underestimated Vietnam. When you start to think that games will be easy, it’s going to be harder. We came out in the second half the way we want to start in the first half. That kind of keyed us in with the rhythm that we want,” added Cone.
The national team’s win improved its record to 2-0 in Group A while Vietnam suffered its first defeat after winning its first two to finish the elimination round with a 2-1 card.
Both the Philippines and Vietnam have secured semifinal berths with the Philippines gunning for a 3-0 sweep when its takes on winless Myanmar Saturday night at the same venue.
Thailand also aims for a sweep in Group B when it meets Malaysia, while Indonesia battles Cambodia.
Thailand leads its group with a 2-0 record, followed by Indonesia at 1-1, while Malaysia – silver medalist in the last SEA Games – and Cambodia sports identical 0-2 slates in the standings.
The format will have the top two teams from each group play in the crossover semifinals on Monday, with the winner advancing in the gold medal match to be played on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-10 Fajardo also got 12 rebounds as the national team controlled the rebounding department 69-30. LA Tenorio and Vic Manuel finished with 14 points apiece, while Troy Rosario added 12 points and Stanley Pringle contributed 11 points.
Greg Slaughter, a late addition as he replaced the injured RR Pogoy, came off the bench to add 10 points.
The national team shot below 43 percent from the field, but finished the game shooting nearly 50 percent. On defense, the Filipinos held Vietnam to just 29.7 percent from the field.
Christopher Dierker, one of the players of Vietnam with American blood, led his team in scoring with 28 points, but lack of depth forced him to play for almost 36 minutes. Justin Young, another Viet-Am, was the other double-digit scorer with 13 points.
The scores:
GILAS PILIPINAS 110 – Fajardo 23, Tenorio 14, Manuel 14, Rosario 12, Pringle 11, Slaughter 10, Wright 7, Lassiter 6, Aguilar 6, Standhardinger 1, Ross 1.
VIETNAM 61 – Dierker 28, Young 13, Tran 7, Le 6, Dinh 5, Nguyen H. 4, Dinh 3, Vo 2, Du 1, Nguyen T. 0.
Quarters: 27-19; 52-40; 80-57; 110-69.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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