MANILA, Philippines – As expected, Gilas Pilipinas dominated Singapore in its Southeast Asian (SEA) Games men’s basketball tournament debut, 110-58 on Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
After a very frustrating FIBA World Cup campaign a few months ago, Gilas Pilipinas is now ready to reign the South East Asian region anew at the 30th SEA Games.
To start with, the Philippines was tasked to face a familiar regional rival and consistent runner-up, Singapore.
After over two decades, Coach Tim cone is finally back at the helm of Philippines’ basketball program and along with the multi-titled mentor is a deep pool of PBA pros.
Coach Cone opted not to start June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter. Despite the small line up, Philippines still managed to overtake Singapore with a huge margin with Stanley Pringle and Matthew Wright doing the damage from the outside in the opener.
After 10 minutes of basketball, Philippines was on top with 17 points, 30-13.
Philippines slowed down offensively in the early phase of the 2nd quarter. In contrast, Singapore started to click beyond the ark.
It took Gilas 5 minutes to re-ignite its shooting power. But as soon as the Filipino cagers regained their pulse, the lead widened to 20 plus.
Singapore, led by ABL veteran, Delvin Goh, was dropping decent digits. However, Philippines was firing back and was successful in preserving its huge margin.
At the end of the 1st half, Gilas was still up, 48-28.
At the beginning of the 2nd half, Tim Cone went to his starting 5 and the starters, spearheaded by Stanley Pringle went way ahead and left Singapore at the 30-point mark.
In spite of the humongous advantage, Gilas players struggled at the free throw line especially Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger.
With June Mar Fajardo on the floor, the Singaporeans settled for outside shooting and fortunately, some of their attempts were going in but Philippines’ lead was still too far for them to catch up.
3rd period was a better quarter for Gilas all in all as it savored a 77-48 lead heading to the final canto.
The Filipino cagers intensified their defense and boosted their transition offense to add more digits to their scorebook in the 4th period.
Obviously, Coach Cone was doing lots of experiments on the floor by mixing and matching his talented players. For the record, he had used all of his 12 players in this game.
Gilas’ 3rd stringers had a good time in the 4th quarter as they crossed the century mark and possessed a 40 plus point advantage.
At the final buzzer, the Philippines posted a dominant 52-point lead, 110-58 and handed Singapore its 1st loss of the tournament.
Gilas Pilipinas will have a day of R&R before they come back on Friday, November 6 to face team Vietnam.
— Joey Boy Capos, The Summit Express
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| Stanley Pringle led Gilas Pilipinas to a 110-58 victory over familiar rival, Singapore | Credit: Tristan Tamayo / Inquirer |
After a very frustrating FIBA World Cup campaign a few months ago, Gilas Pilipinas is now ready to reign the South East Asian region anew at the 30th SEA Games.
To start with, the Philippines was tasked to face a familiar regional rival and consistent runner-up, Singapore.
After over two decades, Coach Tim cone is finally back at the helm of Philippines’ basketball program and along with the multi-titled mentor is a deep pool of PBA pros.
Coach Cone opted not to start June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter. Despite the small line up, Philippines still managed to overtake Singapore with a huge margin with Stanley Pringle and Matthew Wright doing the damage from the outside in the opener.
After 10 minutes of basketball, Philippines was on top with 17 points, 30-13.
Philippines slowed down offensively in the early phase of the 2nd quarter. In contrast, Singapore started to click beyond the ark.
It took Gilas 5 minutes to re-ignite its shooting power. But as soon as the Filipino cagers regained their pulse, the lead widened to 20 plus.
Singapore, led by ABL veteran, Delvin Goh, was dropping decent digits. However, Philippines was firing back and was successful in preserving its huge margin.
At the end of the 1st half, Gilas was still up, 48-28.
At the beginning of the 2nd half, Tim Cone went to his starting 5 and the starters, spearheaded by Stanley Pringle went way ahead and left Singapore at the 30-point mark.
In spite of the humongous advantage, Gilas players struggled at the free throw line especially Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger.
With June Mar Fajardo on the floor, the Singaporeans settled for outside shooting and fortunately, some of their attempts were going in but Philippines’ lead was still too far for them to catch up.
3rd period was a better quarter for Gilas all in all as it savored a 77-48 lead heading to the final canto.
The Filipino cagers intensified their defense and boosted their transition offense to add more digits to their scorebook in the 4th period.
Obviously, Coach Cone was doing lots of experiments on the floor by mixing and matching his talented players. For the record, he had used all of his 12 players in this game.
Gilas’ 3rd stringers had a good time in the 4th quarter as they crossed the century mark and possessed a 40 plus point advantage.
At the final buzzer, the Philippines posted a dominant 52-point lead, 110-58 and handed Singapore its 1st loss of the tournament.
Gilas Pilipinas will have a day of R&R before they come back on Friday, November 6 to face team Vietnam.
— Joey Boy Capos, The Summit Express
