Story by Nicole Lum/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan, Lee Jian Wei and Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports
Wong Wei Long (#5) of Singapore drives the ball past Glenn Khobunthin (#8) of Philippines. Wei Long paced Singapore with a game-high 17 points. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Friday, May 1, 2015 — Singapore gave Philippines a run for their money but eventually went down 56–82 in the final game of the 11th Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) Championship. The home team settled for bronze with an overall 3–2 win-loss record, behind Malaysia and Philippines who brought home silver and gold respectively.
All three podium finishers have qualified for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship.
Defending Southeast Asian (SEA) Games champions Philippines dominated in all of their previous four games, defeating Laos, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia by an average of 79 points. In this game against Singapore, the victory margin, however, was only one-third of that number.
Wong Wei Long (#5) of Singapore scored a game-high 17 points and shot 92 per cent from the charity stripe. Teammates Wu Qingde (#7) and Larry Liew (#11) added 16 and 10 points respectively.
For Philippines, Marcus Douthit (#13) was the team’s top contributor, pouring in 16 points, while Kiefer Ravena (#4) and Jiovani Jalalon (#6) chipped in 15 and 12 points respectively.
Regional powerhouses Philippines converted 52 percent of their field goals while limiting Singapore to only 25 percent. The away team forced 21 turnovers to gain an extra 20 points. Philippines also had no problem playing past Singapore’s defence, earning 58 points in the paint. The home team on the other hand, scored six out of 22 attempted three-pointers and mostly took to these outside shots as the visitors’ defence proved too tight to break through.
Philippines easily made the first basket with Bobby Ray Jr. Park’s (#17) lay-up right from the tip-off. The Singaporeans relied on three three-pointers to stay close. However, later in the quarter, 12 rebounds allowed the Philippines to extend their lead to 26–19. The team powered over the lacklustre defence put up by Singapore and demonstrated strong team dynamics on court.
Helming the Philippines’ offence in the second quarter was Jalalon (#6) and Douthit (#13). Many opportunities were created due to their solid drives, which Singapore, on the other hand, had difficulties executing. Although Liew’s (#11) accurate baseline shots attempted to make up for it, the deficit still widened to 14 points (51–30).
After the break, Douthit (#13), with his 2.11m frame and aggressive blocking, helped Philippines with their scoring rampage. The home team could only manage three field goals, but was later saved by Wong (#5) who sunk all 11 of his free throws. Yet, the margin grew again to a score of 75–47 favouring Philippines.
Despite the visitors’ clear dominance, Singapore kept their momentum up until the end. The closing quarter saw the home team outscore their rivals by two points, a result of their 14 rebounds. However, Philippines’ advantage was too large for Singapore to catch up on and thus the final buzzer sounded with Philippines taking the 82–56 victory, which is their seventh consecutive SEABA title.
On the team’s performance, Singapore head coach, Neo Beng Siang said, “Today, we played as expected but we were too rushed in our offence. There were a lot of turnovers that really killed us. Our help-side defence is also not there yet.”
“The team played at a higher intensity and showed a never-give-up mentality although we were down by 20 to 30 points. Hopefully they can keep it up throughout the SEA Games,” he continued.
Neo felt that the SEABA Championship proved to be a useful stepping stone for their ultimate goal – the SEA Games.
“It was a good preparation for us and we are now looking forward to the Games.”
“Team-wise, we need to go through the videos and basically see what we are lacking, and then improve on areas such as our full-court press break, team defence and individual one-on-one containment,” explained Neo.
When asked about who the team will be looking out for in the SEA Games, Neo remarked, “Everybody stands a chance to win. At the end of the day we have to get ourselves prepared as the day’s performance is very important.”
Philippines head coach Thomas Baldwin felt that this was the toughest game his team faced in the championship.
“I think we can do better in certain aspects of the game particularly the offence in half-court. Overall I was pleased with the defence as we sustained the effort for the whole 40 minutes,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin’s squad featured new and younger players, such as National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Most Valuable Player Earl Scottie Thompson (#9), as most of the senior men have stayed back at home for commitments in the Philippines Basketball Association (PBA) Commisioner’s Cup.
On these newcomers, Baldwin said, “There’s a lot of talent in the team and the expectation back home was to come here and win a gold medal. Credit to these young players as they did a great job. They’re growing and learning both as a team and as individuals. Many of them have big futures in this sport so what we have to do is get them to focus on playing for the country and submitting themselves which they have been doing so far.”
Nearly three quarters of the capacity crowd in the 3000-seater OCBC Arena were Filipinos who showed up to show their support for their national men’s team.
“This is common for us and we are used to this,” explained Baldwin. “Virtually anywhere we go in the world, because they love the game and their players so much, the Filipino community shows up. We should never expect it or take it for granted and we tremendously appreciate it. We love our fans and we are eternally grateful for the support and we would like to reward it with success.”
“The most important thing is to feel the stadium, home crowd or not,” said Neo, when asked about the throngs of Filipinos that overwhelmed the small group of Singaporean supporters at the final game. “But of course we want Singaporeans to be here to support.”
Over the month or so, the Singapore men’s basketball roster for the SEA Games will be finalised.
For Toh Qing Huang (#8), Leon Kwek (#10), and Kelvin Lim (#22), who are featuring in either their first or second SEABA Championship, it has been “a once in a lifetime experience” for them to wear the flag on their chest.
“I just grab every chance that the coach throws at me so every opportunity that I get to play on court, I give my best, play good defence and leave everything I have on the floor,” Toh said.
“I think it’s all about going through the right process and making sure I train hard, do my recovery, follow my routines well and be a team player. I’ll let the rest take care of itself,” said Toh on his preparation to make the cut.
Compatriot Kwek shares the same sentiment, and looks to improve not only his individual play but team dynamics as well.
In the day’s earlier games, Indonesia emerged as victors with a 81–30 win against Brunei while Malaysia took down Laos with a score of 85–53.
Score by Quarter
Singapore vs Philippines
1st quarter: 19–26
2nd quarter: 11–25 (30–51)
3rd quarter: 17–24 (47–75)
4th quarter: 9–7 (56–82)
Singapore Roster
Oh Wei Jie Desmond (#2), Wong Wei Long (#5), Wu Qingde (#7), Toh Qing Huang (#8), Kwek Wei Meng Leon (#10), Liew Hua Sen Larry (#11), Khaw Yeong Wooi (#13), Low Wenqiang, Russel (#15), Ng Hanbin (#17), Lim Hong Da, Kelvin (#22), Goh Kok Chiang Delvin (#23), Tan Chin Hong (#83)
Philippines Roster
Ravena Kiefer Isaac (#4), Vosotros Almond (#5), Jalalon Jiovani (#6), Khobunthin Glenn (#8), Thompson Earl Scottie (#9), Torres Norberto (#10), Belo Rey Mark (#12), Douthit Marcus Eugene (#13), Ferrer Kevin (#14), Escoto Russel (#15), Rosario Jeth Troy (#16), Parks Bobby Ray Jr. (#17)
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