It appears that the expected toughest challenge of Gilas Pilipinas was untimely off-game on their most important night.
The Gilas Pilipinas finally unleashed their top form in the best possible time as they handily beat Indonesia, 94-55, on Saturday night and claimed the gold medal in 2017 Southeast Asian Games men’s basketball tournament at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Indonesians squad gave themselves another shot against the Filipinos after receiving a devastating 97-64 loss to Andray Blatche-led Gilas Pilipinas in the last Seaba final in Manila.
Gilas Pilipinas tried to take the momentum early in the ball-game but the Mario Wuysang-led Indonesian team resisted, even established a two-point lead with only 2 minutes remaining in the first canto.
However, a combined Carl Bryan Cruz trey and Kevin Ferrer follow-up gave the Philippine squad a good time to breath with its four-point lead at the end of the first quarter, 19-15.
Gilas Pilipinas quickly stepped on the gas and went on a full throttle as waxing hot Mike Tolomia delivered three big time triples to lift the Filipinos first half rampage, 45-27.
Through the collective efforts of the relentless Gilas cadets, they still sustained a double digit-cushion and even widened that with a heavy 29-point lead through their huge third quarter storm, 67-38.
It was all Gilas since then, relentlessly not allowing the Indonesian team to close the gap and voiding them to give themselves enough respect by pulling a last quarter run.
The show of dominance was not yet over as the high-leaper Kobe Paras exposed few of his dunking abilities in the fourth quarter, lifting the crowd on their feet while shouting Gilas and “PUSO” chants.
Fiery Mike Tolomia led the Gilas Pilipinas with his huge 20-point performance while the highlight king Kobe Paras contributed 14 markers. | Tretch Melarpes – PTV
The scores:
Philippines (94) – Tolomia 20, Paras 14, Jose 12, Standhardinger 11, Rosario 8, Ravena 7, Cruz 6, Ferrer 5, Pessumal 5, Amer 4, Parks, Jr. 2, Vosotros 0.
Indonesia (55) – Pratama 10, Kurniawan 10, Wisnu 6, Enguio 5, Sitepu 4, Dhyaksa 4, Nugroho 4, Kosasih 4, Wuysang 2, Grahita 2, Sitorus 2, Lakudu 2.
Quarters: 19-15, 45-27, 67-38, 94-55
