Energen Pilipinas trounces Singapore for 1st Seaba U16 crown

BANTING CITY, MALAYSIA—The Energen Pilipinas Under-16 Youth Team capped its dominant run with a crown.

Living up to their tag as favorites, the young nationals completed a championship sweep of the 1st Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) U16 for Men after trouncing Singapore, 70-52, on Saturday night at the Kuala Langat Gym here.

The Philippines had big men Gelo Vito and Arvin Tolentino working in the paint as the Philippines bucked its worst shooting night to pull off a four-game sweep.

“Mission accomplished,” said national youth coach Olsen Racela. “Although Singapore held us to our lowest output, we’ll take it.”

The title romp in the five-nation tournament also gave the Philippines a ticket to the Fiba Asia U16 tournament set on October 18 to 28 in Nha Trang City, Vietnam.

Runners-up Malaysia (3-1) and Indonesia (2-2) earned berths as well in the next youth tournament, which will pit Asia’s best basketball nations for slots in the 2012 Fiba U17 World Championship.

“This is just one step,” said Racela. “We realized we have a difficult time playing against the zone (defense). So we’ll concentrate on that in our training, especially with the addition of more players.”

The Philippines missed all of its 22 attempts from three-point range, but pulled away early after holding down Singapore to just 18 points in the first half.

Vito led with 13 points and six rebounds while Tolentino–the tournament’s best performer with averages of 19.5 points and eight boards–had 13 markers to go with five rebounds.

The Philippines arrested the third-quarter outburst of Singapore, which closed in within seven, 48-41, as Vito, Tolentino and guard Rev Diputado took charge in the next canto.

Diputado delivered nine points, four boards and five steals as he teamed up with the two big men in scoring all but three of the team’s 20 fourth-quarter points.

The Philippines recorded its lowest field goal clip in four games at 31 percent, but outscored Singapore in the paint, 44-24.

The other big men also stepped up as the Filipinos won the rebounding battle, 46-36, with Jay Javelosa and Daryl Pascual combining for 13 boards.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, we’re still an eight,” noted Racela.”But I’m proud of the boys. Our first two games actually surprised me.”

The Philippines, which blasted its opponents by an average of 38 points, also routed  Malaysia (91-64), Indonesia (109-46) and Laos (101-57).

Singapore finished its campaign with a 1-3 record, while Laos dropped all of its four assignments.

The scores:
PHILIPPINES 70–Vito 13, Tolentino 13, Diputado 9, Pascual 8, Cani 8, Lao 8, Asilum 5, Brill 2, Tongco 2, Javelosa 2, Babilonia 0.
SINGAPORE 52—Lim 11, Goh 10, Tay A. 8, Toh 7, Chua 5, Tay W. 4, Han 4, Lee 3, Cheok 0, Tee 0, Ng 0, Ridzuan 0.
Quarters: 17-6, 34-18, 50-41, 70-52