In the opening quarter, Gilas point guard Jayson Castro made his presence felt when he made the ice-breaker for Gilas in the final game but the Indonesian team retaliated with a three-point shot that put them on top early in the first quarter.
But the host team took the lead in just a few minutes and pulled away to end the first quarter at 34-14. By the end of the first half, Gilas was leading by 21 points and never looked back till the last quarter for a dominating 97-64 victory.
Jason Castro and Gilas import Andray Blatche made a combined score of 24 points in the first half.
“We knew we were going to be tested, and I felt we were ready for it,” head coach Chot Reyes said in a TV interview after the game.
“I just reminded the players to play in a way that honors what the previous Gilas teams had started, the kind of culture and tradition we built,” he added.
“I felt Jimmy [Alapag] put it very well when he said it’s very rare that you get a chance to play for a championship in front of your home crowd, regardless if it’s SEABA or FIBA Asia,” Reyes recalled in one of their sideline briefings.
South East Asian countries participating the the 2017 SEABA Games include Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Read more:
The winner in the ongoing SEABA Games will qualify for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup which will take place in Lebanon from August 10 to August 20, 2017.
