Relaxed PH five downs Singapore; Perlas sparkles

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar—Relaxed and overconfident early, the Philippines needed a mighty second-half push to complete a come-from-behind 88-75 triumph over Singapore Monday at the start of its men’s basketball title defense in the 27th Southeast Asian Games at Zayar Thiri Indoor Stadium here.

Far Eastern University standout Rey Mark Belo came off the bench to finish with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Marcus Douthit, who promised to donate P500 to victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” for every point and rebound he collects, tallied 14 points and 10 boards for the Nationals.

University of Santo Tomas’ Kevin Ferrer also sparkled with timely hits from beyond the arc and wound up with 14 points, while Bobby Ray Parks (10 points, 5 assists) and Kiefer Ravena (9 points, six rebounds, four assists) took the cudgels for the PH five when Douthit sat out due to foul trouble.

“We know we can play better than this,” coach Jong Uichico said. “We were relaxed and we took the opponent for granted.”

The women’s team known as Perlas Pilipinas earlier debuted with a 65-59 win over Malaysia to prime itself up for a virtual title clash with reigning champ Thailand Tuesday.

Ewon Arayi and Analyn Almazan combined for 26 points as Perlas Pilipinas avenged its loss to the Malaysians in the Fiba Asia Championship early this year.

With the tournament adapting a single-round format, a win over Thailand could give the country its first title in women’s basketball, although the Filipinos will still have matches against lightweights Myanmar and Indonesia.

Perlas struggled to put away the Malaysians even after taking a 63-43 lead with 5:27 left.

The scores:
Women’s
PHILIPPINES 65—Arayi 14, Almazan 12, Jacob 9, Borja 7, Mercado 6, Gloriani 6, Grajales 5, Sambile 4, Resultay 2, Tioseco 0, Tiu 0, Galicia 0.
MALAYSIA 59—Goh 11, Pang 10, Ang 9, Ting 9, Kew 8, Yong 6, Lee 4, Saw 2, Yaakob 0, Yap 0, Choo 0.
Quarters: 19-6, 28-23, 47-38, 65-59
Men’s
PHILIPPINES 88—Belo 16, Douthit 14, Ferrer 14, Parks 10, Ganuelas 9, Ravena 9, Sumang 8, Lanete 6, Pascual J 2, Pascual R 0, Cruz 0.
SINGAPORE 75—Wong 21, Ng 11, Wu 11, Low 9, Lim 7, Oh 7, Goh 6, Liew 5.
Quarters: 13-22, 33-33, 64-58, 88-75