Gilas struggles to make final

GILAS- Christian Standhardinger against Singapore’s Delvin Goh Kok Chiang and Russel Low at the Men’s Basketball game, 2017 Seagames in KL, Malaysia. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

KUALA LUMPUR—Gilas Pilipinas found Singapore a surprisingly tough nut to crack, hammering out a 68-60 victory Friday to book a final berth in the 29th Southeast Asian Games men’s basketball competition here.

Disjointed and groping for form all evening, the Nationals failed to come up with a more convincing performance against the Singaporeans in their semifinal match at MABA Stadium.

The Filipinos will face the winner between Thailand and Indonesia, which are locked in battle in the other semifinal bracket.

Troy Rosario scored 14 points, while Christian Standhardinger had 13 for Gilas, which allowed the Singaporeans to keep the game close.

The Philippines has reached the basketball finals every time the sport was played in the biennial games.

But on Friday, the cadets trudged on instead of barging into Saturday’s championship round on the saddle of a rout.

Chot Reyes, coach of the main Gilas squad, flew in town to watch the cadets’ remaining games and watched on the bench as the Filipinos struggled to flash sharpness and coordination.

Mike Tolomia added 10 points for the Philippines, knocking in five straight points late in the third quarter to help dust off a Singapore rally. Baser Amer chipped in eight points.

The Philippines sent the young cadets of the Gilas program, a far different team than the one fielded during the Seaba championships held in Manila recently and the squad that beat China in the recent Fiba Asia Cup.

The Philippines looked like it had finally found its groove when it posted a 41-26 lead late in the third on a dunk by the 6-foot-8 Filipino-German Standhardinger.

But the Singaporeans somehow managed to make things interesting late into the match before the Filipinos could finally put the game away.

Gilas Pilipinas is hoping to give the country its 17th basketball crown in the SEA Games and is expected to face a testy Thailand team in the championship round.