Sinag Pilipinas faces Thai five in semifinals

SINGAPORE—Now that the stakes have gone higher, don’t expect Sinag Pilipinas to treat its opponents in the medal round with kid gloves.

There will be no more holding punches for the cadet squad of the Gilas program when it battles Thailand in the men’s basketball semifinals of the 28th Southeast Asian Games Sunday at OCBC Arena here.  Game time is 6 p.m.

“Nobody should be silly enough to take this lightly,” said Sinag head coach Tab Baldwin.“We will be professional on what we do, be serious about it and that’s the only way I believe we’ll get the outcome that we want.”

Except in 1989 in Kuala Lumpur when the hosts reigned, the Philippines has never lost the title since 1977.

After Thailand, the bunch of collegiate standouts reinforced by naturalized center Marcus Douthit will move  to the finals against either host Singapore or Indonesia Monday night.

“The standard is to win a gold medal and play very good Filipino basketball,” said Baldwin.

The Filipinos swept their group with  an average margin of 62 points in three games.

Douthit, a 6-foot-10 pivotman with a silky touch from the perimeter, has yet to assert himself with Troy Rosario, Norberto Torres, Mark Belo, Paolo Rivero and Kevin Ferrer taking turns in covering the paint.

Handling the PH firepower are Kiefer Ravena, Earl Scottie Thompson, Almond Vosotros, Glenn Khobuntin and Amer Baser.

“I’m more concerned about the way we play than our opponents. As long as we play efficient basketball, we’ll be fine,” said Baldwin.

Singapore topped the other group after beating perennial bridesmaid Thailand, 65-58, Friday night.

The Singaporeans face the Indonesians in the other semifinal matchup at 8 p.m.