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| Japeth Aguilar makes Malaysia pay with this tomahawk (image by Rogelio Amat) |
For the 6th time, the Philippines are champions of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association. They thoroughly manhandled the opposition to finish with an immaculate 4-0 record and an average winning margin of 40 points. Despite fielding in only 9 men throughout the competition, coach Rajko Toroman still succeeded in steering the Smart-Gilas squad to success, with one impressive performance after the other.
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| Mark Barroca was on attack mode all tournament long (image by Rogelio Amat) |
As a bonus, 7 Pinoys finished in the Top 10 in scoring: Japeth Aguilar (16.0ppg), Mark Barroca (12.5ppg), Marcus Douthit (12.5ppg), Chris Lutz (11.5ppg), Mac Baracael (11.0ppg), Chris TIu (10.5ppg), and Dylan Ababou (9.5ppg).
The other 3 were Singapore's Wei Long Wong (17.0ppg), Malaysia's Shee Fai Loh (13.0ppg), and Indonesia's Xaverius Prawiro (9.5ppg).
This bodes well for the Philippines, as the team advances to the FIBA-Asia Men's Championship in Wuhan, China from September 15-25 later this year. The Indons and Malaysians will join the Pinoys, but something tells me only Smart-Gilas will make some headway in the continental competition.
These 3 SEABA teams will join an already imposing cast of 11 teams:
- China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan from East Asia
- Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain from the Gulf
- Lebanon, Iran, Jordan and Syria from West Asia
That makes 14 teams. Two more will qualify from the Middle Asia sub-zone (probably Kazakhstan and India).
Here's to hoping Gilas continues its hot shooting and stifling defense well into their next tournaments and into the FIBA-Asia Men's Championships! Go Pilipinas!!!
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| Dylan Ababou showcased his fine offensive arsenal (image by Rogelio Amat) |
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| Malaysia's Guga Batumalai had a subpar showing this year (image by Eko Widodo) |
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| Ponsianus Indrawan of Indonesia slices and dices against Singapore (image by Rogelio Amat) |
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| Jason Ballesteros was a solid back-up for Marcus Douthit (image by Rogelio Amat) |
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| Lee Wei Chee had some flashes of brilliance for Malaysia (image by Eko Widodo) |
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| Chris Lutz was a steady backcourt presence (image by Rogelio Amat) |
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| Mac Baracael was efficient and effective at the 3-spot (image by Rogelio Amat) |
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| Amin Prihantono is a reliable wingman for the Indons (image by Rogelio Amat) |
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| Chris Tiu provided valuable leadership (image by Rogelio Amat) |
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| Indonesia's #1 PG Mario Wuysang was shackled by the Pinoys (image by Rogelio Amat) |
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