Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Pinoys keep slate clean
The Nature Spring-NBC Selection fueled its bid for a sweep as it defused the dreaded outside shooting of South Korea’s Donjuk University to pull off an 82-77 victory Monday night in the 9th Crown Prince Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Jiranakorn Indoor Stadium in Haad Tai City, Thailand.
The victory gave the composite team, made up of players from NBC defending champion Tribu Sugbu, Mantawi Sparkling Nights and Laguna Spring, its third straight win to tie the host Thailand team with identical 3-0 cards in the five-nation tournament.
South Korea dropped out of the title race with a 2-2 win-loss slate, along with the winless Hong Kong and Singaporean squads.
The win set up a championship match for the title between the Thais and the Filipinos. The game was still in progress at press time.
The NBC Selection again relied on the sterling performance of 6-foot-7 Val Domingo, who scored 18 points on top of 10 rebounds and five steals to lead the team to victory.
Team effort
“Val (Domingo) carried us inside, but it was a total team effort. Our defense held the Koreans’ outside shooting,” coach Al Solis said.
Donjuk, a Division 1 college champion from Seoul, averaged 15 3-pointers prior to the match. But the Filipinos limited them to nine, their tournament low, for the rousing win.
It was a tough job for the Filipinos as they trailed in the first half, yielding a 41-44 deficit at the bend. Domingo started to assert his dominance at the middle in the third quarter giving Maue Huelar, Marvin Tundag and Dondon Villamin more room to connect from the outside.
The NBC selection, backed by Hapee Toothpaste, Dewfoam, Sirlitz Electronics, Skygo Motorcycles, Sulpicio Lines, Mandaue Mayor Thadeo “Teddy” Ouano and Laguna Gov. Teresita “Ningning” Lazaro, has won by an average of 14 points.
Bias
The team, however, is wary of biased officiating in their much-anticipated game against Thailand, which placed third behind Malaysia and Indonesia in the recent Southeast Asia Basketball tournament.
“Wee expect that the calls and the crowd won’t go our way, but I believe in the hearts of our players. And they are not new to this situation since they have experienced it themselves with the home-and-away format we’re using in the NBC,” Palma said.
Huelar and Tundag supported Domingo with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Nature Spring-NBC (82) – Domingo 18, Huelar 11, Tundag 10, Villamin 8, Kalaw 8, Almacin 7, Latoreno 6, Mangubat 6, Briones 4, Larong 2, Daa 2. South Korea (77) – Chen 18, Choi 13, Lee 12, Oh 11, Jung 11, Park 6, Yoo 3, Park Se 2, Cho 1.
Quarters: 21-17; 41-44; 62-56; 82-77. (RCM)
(August 31, 2005 issue)
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