Thailand - Thais foil RP women, capture Seaba title
A vengeful Thailand team ended Philippines-Cebuana Lhuillier’s magical run with a 66-49 rout Saturday night, ruling the Southeast Asia Basketball (Seaba) Championships at the Saphan Hin gym in Phuket, Thailand. Their egos pricked by the Filipinos’ 80-76 victory in the eliminations, the taller Thais employed a tough zone defense to wipe out a 27-21 first quarter deficit and win pulling away.
From newsinfo.inquirer.net
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A vengeful Thailand team ended Philippines-Cebuana Lhuillier’s magical run with a 66-49 rout Saturday night, ruling the Southeast Asia Basketball (Seaba) Championships at the Saphan Hin gym in Phuket, Thailand.
Their egos pricked by the Filipinos’ 80-76 victory in the eliminations, the taller Thais employed a tough zone defense to wipe out a 27-21 first quarter deficit and win pulling away.
It was the Filipinos’ first loss after posting a four-game sweep of the eliminations and dumping the Indonesians, 72-44, in the semifinals on Thursday.
Already hampered by poor outside shooting, the Filipinos’ woes were further compounded by their inability to box out the Thais, who boast two players over 6-feet.
The Korean-mentored Thais disposed of the favored Malaysians, the reigning Southeast Asian Games champions, 86-80, to forge the repeat showdown with RP-Cebuana which was formed just two months ago.
“We fought very, very hard till the end,” said national coach Fritz Gaston. “We offer the silver cup to the Filipino people. We’ll try to get back in the SEAG.”