Team Pilipinas shows who's the boss in region

MANILA, Philippines – Powerade-Team Pilipinas showed its Southeast Asian neighbors who is the basketball powerhouse in the region winning the 8th Southeast Asian Basketball association (SEABA) Men’s Championship in Medan, Indonesia. The PBA-backed RP 5 bucked a raucous pro-Indonesian crowd to fashion out a 98-68 rout of the hosts in the SEABA finals late Tuesday night at the Angkasapura Lanud Basketball Hall. Team Pilipinas thus formalized its entry to the FIBA-Asia World Championship qualifier in Tianjin, China in August. Despite the loss, Indonesia also earned the second slot in the FIBA-Asia meet. Unlike in the 103-64 drubbing it tasted at the hands of the Philippines in the elimination round, this time the Indonesians hung tough and even held Team Pilipinas to a 22-all count in the opening period and briefly held a 31-30 lead early in the second quarter. But that was the best that the hosts can do as the Nationals applied heavy backcourt pressure to force consecutive turnovers to pull away and enjoy a 46-32 halftime lead. That 14-point lead further stretched to a 77-49 advantage, which the Indonesians failed to overhaul. “We couldn’t match their speed in the second half, and we couldn’t handle their pressure on the ball," said Indonesian coach Raoul Miguel Hidanoto. Cyrus Baguio and James Yap turned in 14 points each to lead Team Pilipinas’ scoring while team captain Asi Taulava added 11 markers. Willie Miller and Arwind Santos contributed 10 apiece Taulava and Jared Dillinger, who only scored eight points, combined for 18 rebounds to emphasize the Nationals’ 65-43 advantage off the boards. A Yap layup, from a Santos assist, ignited a 12-0 run as the Nationals turned a tight match into a rout. Team Pilipinas was in cruise control for the entire match and the closest the Indonesians could get is at 60-43 with 4:31 left in the third period. They enjoyed their biggest lead of 39 points, 95-56, with four minutes left in the final period. All of Team Pilipinas’ elimination round wins are in lopsided fashion: Malaysia, 100-73, 103-64, Indonesia, and Singapore, 117-69. Sudiadnyana paced Indonesia with 14 points while Wuysang and Purwanto tallied 11 markers each. – GMANews.TV