KELAPA GADING, Jakarta—It’s two to go for the national cagers in their bid to pull off an unprecedented golden basketball double in the 26th Southeast Asian Games.
Playing its best game so far, the defending champion men’s team under Norman Black outclassed Thailand, 103-69, Wednesday to reach the semifinals as the Group A topnotcher at BritAma Arena here.
The women’s team known as Discovery Perlas ng Pilipinas then stormed past Myanmar, 57-39, for its second straight victory in the five-team round robin competition.
The Filipinos have dominated this event since joining the Games in 1977, but their women counterparts have yet to win with Malaysia and Thailand alternating as champions.
This time, the cagebelles came into the tournament as hot favorites after winning the Seaba championship in Manila last year over the same field that is playing here.
The Filipinos will likely face Malaysia in the crossover semifinals before meeting the survivor of the Indonesia-Thailand match for the men’s title.
The women’s championship will be decided Friday when the Perlas five takes on Thailand, also unbeaten in two games. Indonesia, winless in two games so far, will be the Perlas five’s last foe.
“We are very motivated because the players want this batch of Nationals to be the first to win (for the Philippines) the (Women’s basketball) gold,” coach Haydee Ong said.
“And we want to win this for Cassey (Tioseco, the dengue-stricken PH team center who until now is confined at the Makati Medical Center).”
“It was another good game for us, especially on the defensive end,” Black said.
The scores:
Men
PHILIPPINES 103—Hodge 15, Ravena 14, Salva 12, Slaughter 11, Ellis 11, Lanete 8, Garcia 7, Monfort 6, Tiu 6, Marcelo 3, Pascual 0.
THAILAND 69—Apiromvilaichai 12, Chanachon 11, Kongkum 8, Kaedum 8, Jantuma 7, Sangthong 6, Lertmalaiporn 5, Kruatiwa 5, Dasom 3, Ghogam 2.
Quarters: 37-21, 54-34, 75-49, 103-69
Women
PHILIPPINES 57—Arayi 13, Almazan 11, Jacob 6, Gloriani 6, Adriano 6, Flormata 5, Limengco 3, Lomogda 2, Mercado 2, Borja 1, Grajales 0.
MYANMAR 39—Yee 10, Wine 9, Yee Y. 7, Than 7, Susie 4, Lin 2.
Quarters: 18-10, 26-23, 43-29, 57-39