Cage golden double goes pfft

NAYPYITAW—Sinag Pilipinas—the country’s men’s basketball team— easily notched a second win this time, but a double gold in basketball in the 27th Southeast Asian Games now seems out of reach.

Perlas Pilipinas may have kissed its title hopes goodbye just three days into the women’s basketball competition after a woeful performance ended in a 75-36 defeat to defending titlist Thailand on Monday at Zayar Thiri Indoor Stadium.

Listless in the first two quarters, Perlas failed to dig itself out of an early 20-point hole as the Thais coasted to the one-sided win.

Perlas, which dropped to 1-1, still has two games remaining—against Myanmar and Indonesia—but its hopes of winning a first gold medal is no longer in its hands.

Thailand won the title two years ago with a 75-73 overtime win over the PH cagebelles.

Sinag momentarily eased the pain of the Perlas loss in the outskirts of the Burmese capital with a 107-57 demolition of a Cambodian five whose tallest player stood at 6-foot-3.

Scoreless in the 88-75 win over Singapore Monday, Ronald Pascual waxed hot early and finished with a team-high 16 points, while Mac Belo added 15 points as Sinag blitzed the Cambodians in the second period.

All eleven players of coach Jong Uichico scored at least four points as Sinag flashed mean form against one of the tournament’s weakest teams.

“We’re just trying to take advantage of our strengths,” said Uichico.

Perlas’ heavy loss came as a surprise considering that they beat the same Thai squad, 65-59, in the Fiba Asia Championships in Bangkok last October and also flashed fiery form in their debut against Malaysia.

“It’s going to be hard now (because of the losing margin),” said Ong. “What we’re aiming for is to finish the last two games well and hope that there’s a tie for top spot.”

The scores:
Women’s Game
THAILAND 75—Jantakan 22, Chiropet 17, Mathuro 14, Yothana 9, Banmoo 8, Chamnari 2, Tunsaw 2, Mainhom 1.
PHILIPPINES 36—Galicia 8, Sambile 8, Almazan 7, Tioseco 4, Jacob 3, Borja 2, Arayi 2, Gloriani 2, Mercado 0, Resultay 0, Tiu 0, Grajales 0.
Quarters: 18-4, 35-13, 53-24, 75-36
Men’s Game
PHILIPPINES 107—R. Pascual 16, Belo 15, Parks 12, Ganuelas 12, Cruz 10, Lanete 10, Ravena 9, Sumang 7, Ferrer 6, Douthit 6, J. Pascual 4.
CAMBODIA 57—Dar 27, Ratana 13, Boroth 6, Phatara 5, Kim Ran 4, Sok Tour 2, Sovann 0.
Quarters: 25-16, 44-25, 76-39, 107-57