MANILA, Philippines — E-Gilas Pilipinas secured the first finals slot after sweeping Mongolia in their best-of-three semifinals series in the Fiba Esports Open III Southeast Asia Conference Saturday.
The Filipinos advanced to the championship round of the Fiba ESports Open for the third straight time.
Shintarou dropped a pair of 36-point games to lead the Philippines past the Mongolians on 16-of-22 from long range overall in the series, including a 10-of-12 clip in a Game 1 blowout.
We are heading to the FINALS ✈️ 🎮 🧹
E-Gilas Pilipinas won against Mongolia in the first two straight games in their best-of-three series! 💯🇵🇭💪🏼
LABAN! PUSO! 🇵🇭💯👏🏼🎮#ParaSaBayan #LabanPilipinas #FIBAEsportsOpen pic.twitter.com/4bVnPc2krG
— SBP (@officialSBPinc) April 17, 2021
The Philippines whipped Mongolia by 60 points, 95-35, in the opener where the Nationals made 37 out of their 41 attempts from the field.
But Game 2 was an entirely different story as Mongolia refused to go down without a fight.
The Philippines, however, just had too much firepower to survive with a 64-58 victory with Shintarou leading the way and also getting ample support from his teammates Rial and Custer, who also finished in double-digits with 16 and 10 points, respectively.
Starboy_Youtube led Mongolia in the series, highlighted by a 26-point, 10-assist double-double in Game 2.
E-Gilas, the inaugural conference champion, takes on the winner between Indonesia and Vietnam in a best-of-three finals on Wednesday.