PHL battles South Korea today for semifinal berth
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
THE PHILIPPINE Basketball Association-backed men’s national team seeing action at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia seeks to book a place in the semifinals when it collides with defending champions South Korea today.
To take place at the Gelora Bung Karno Basketball Hall in Jakarta at 11 a.m. (Manila time), the Philippines shoots for a spot in the next round and put itself in a position to move a step closer to winning its first Asian Games title since 1962, or at least wind up on the podium once again after a 20-year absence.
Composed of the core of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and backstopped by players from the other PBA teams, the Philippines finished second in Group D of the preliminary phase with a 1-1 record.
It routed Kazakhstan, 96-59, in its tournament debut on Aug. 16 before dropping a close one to China, 82-80, on Aug. 21, to surrender the top spot to the latter heading into the quarterfinals.
Against China, the Philippines was in prime position to win the contest but just did not get the breaks in the end to complete the task.
Filipino-American National Basketball Association player Jordan Clarkson had a stellar debut for the national team, top-scoring with 28 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists.
Christian Standhardinger finished with 18 points for the Philippines while Stanley Pringle had 14.
While they rued the missed opportunity to cut down powerhouse China in said game, Philippine team coach Yeng Guiao said the loss was nonetheless something to take positive cue from in their preparation for their upcoming game.
“While we lost to China, I don’t consider it as a loss. I consider it as a victory for the Filipino people,” said Mr. Guiao following their game against China.
“The players gave their all and came very close to beating undeniably one of the top teams, if not the top, in the Asian Games,” he added.
He went on to say that they are expecting nothing easy from South Korea today and that they really have to “prepare hard” if they are to go deeper in the tournament.
GROUP A TOP TEAM
In South Korea, the Philippines is going to face a team that breezed past the competition in Group A, winning by an average margin of 38 points per game.
It beat host Indonesia, 104-65, then Mongolia, 108-73, and Thailand, 117-77, in that order to sweep its group assignments.
Naturalized player and former PBA reinforcement Ricardo Ratliffe has been leading South Korea with an average of 23.3 points and 13 rebounds per game while Junbeom Jeon has been good for 16.3 points.
As a team, South Korea has been shooting north of 40% from beyond the arc so far in the tournament.
Other quarterfinal matches today are Iran vs. Japan, Chinese Taipei against Syria, and China versus Indonesia.
The Philippines-South Korea will be shown live over ESPN5.
