INQUIRER Sports

KUALA LUMPUR?There were no timeouts, not even a halftime huddle.

Instead, the Nokia Philippine Youth Team let its game do all the talking by crushing Indonesia, 123-43, to virtually clinch the 7th Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship for Junior Men Sunday night at the Malaysia Amateur Basketball Association gym.

In an impressive balanced effort, all the Filipino players scored as the 18-under squad surpassed the century mark in its third straight triumph and rendered Monday?s match with Singapore inconsequential.

?Overall, we were able to show the things we were trying to teach them in the last couple of months,? said RP coach Franz Pumaren.

?I?m quite pleased with our performance. I think everybody contributed to this tournament. You cannot even single out one player. I really think it?s a collective effort. Every time someone gets off the bench, he contributes one way or the other.?

The young nationals, who officially clinched a slot in the Fiba Asia youth championship in Iran in September, are assured of the title even if they lose to Singapore due to a superior quotient.

Host and defending champion Malaysia remained in second at 2-1, while Thailand wrapped up its campaign at 2-2 by trampling on Singapore, 73-54, in the other game Sunday. Singapore stood fourth at 1-2 with Indonesia dead-last at 0-3.

The Philippines raced to a 10-0 lead in less than three minutes and kept a double-digit cushion throughout.

Jaypee Mendoza, a 6-foot-3 Tarlac standout, paced the young nationals by burying all seven attempts off the bench for 14 points on top of eight rebounds and two steals in only 14 minutes of action.

Fil-American Kyle Pascual came up with his best performance of the tournament with a double-double game of 13 markers and 12 boards on top of three steals.

The Filipinos closed out the first half with a 27-0 tear for a 39-point spread, 65-26, after the Indonesians scored all five of their second-quarter points in the first three minutes.

Pumaren called no timeouts and his wards emerged from the dugout just a minute after the halftime buzzer sounded.

The celebration came early as the players gave away shirts to the predominantly Filipino crowd in the gallery during the break.

And the party mood resumed after the game with balloons and confetti raining on the squad in celebration of the 45th birthday of Tao Corp. president and team benefactor Jun Sy.

?[The RP Team] is very strong,? said coach Agus Salim Lim of Indonesia?s national junior champion North Sumatra Medan.

?They?re good in shooting three points and very strong in getting rebounds.?

An Ian Sangalang triple gave the Philippines its biggest lead at 82 points, 123-41.

Indonesia missed the services of top guard Rocky Chentra, who shot 19 of his team?s 26 points in the first half before dislocating his right shoulder following a bad fall in the second quarter.

Indonesia earlier absorbed a 32-point blowout loss to Thailand, 82-50, in the opener, followed by an 18-point setback, 68-50, against Singapore.

The scores:
PHILIPPINES 123?Mendoza 14, Pascual 13, Banal 13 Torres 12, Garcia 11, Sangalang 11, Marata 11, Manguera 10, Terso 8, Tolentino 8, De Guzman 6, Golla 6.
INDONESIA 43?Chentra 19, Gozali 11, Ang 5, Sofian 2, Teddy 2, Suwandy 2, Fahmi 2, Wijaya 0, Wirhendy 0, Utama 0, Tanadi 0, Herbert 0.
Quarters: 34-21, 65-26, 95-32, 123-43