RP routs Singapore; Thailand wins

For all the troubles that hounded its preparation for the Southeast Asia Basketball Association Men’s Championship, the Philippine men’s squad had little problems in toppling an unfancied Singapore side, 112-70, yesterday at the start of the fourth staging of the event at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Backstopped by the best talents in the MBA, the Filipino cagers shrugged off a sputtering start and dominated the Singaporeans thereafter to match rival Thailand’s victory over a fumbling Brunei squad, 101-37, in the other game.

All 12 cagers RP coach David Zamar fielded in scored at least two points, five of them finishing in double-digit scores, led by San Juan Knights’ standout Christian Calaguio, who had a game-high 24 points, 18 of which came from behind the arc.

"They (Singaporeans) have improved tremendously as seen in how they played us in the first half ," said Zamar. "We committed some mistakes in the first half but we made up for that with a good showing in the second half."

Thailand, parading the core of the team that will see action in September’s SEA Games in Malaysia but keeping its key players in the bench most of the way, hardly worked a sweat as they blasted Brunei early en route to posting an insurmountable 61-12 lead at the turn.

Zamar took notice of Thailand’s strength although the hosts, who ruled the last staging of this event in 1998, will not be facing the Thais in the elimination round since their SEA Games rival is bracketed in the other group.

They will likely meet in the semifinals or, perhaps in the finals depending on their performances in the coming games.

The Philippines takes on Vietnam at 3:30 p.m. today, fancied to come up with another romp unless the Vietnamese dish out a superb game and create an impact in this seven-nation meet, which was nearly scrapped due to the long-drawn controversy between two basketball groups.