BANGKOK—Gilas Pilipinas will be shooting for spots in the gold-medal match in the men’s and women’s basketball of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Thursday at Nimibutr Stadium here.
The highly anticipated men’s team plays its semis match at 2 p.m. local time (3 p.m. Manila time), though it was still waiting as of presstime if its opponent would be Indonesia or Vietnam.
Indonesia and Vietnam were facing off in the quarterfinals, with the winner advancing to take on Gilas.
“We need to improve our game because it’s going to be difficult to go all the way if we don’t improve as the tournament goes on,” Black said of his hastily formed side.
In both games, Gilas had to shake off its first-half blues before going on decisive stretches to beat Malaysia (83-58) and Vietnam (78-67), behind timely outside shots and key stops from multiple sources like Robert Bolick, Ray Parks Jr., Matthew Wright and Poy Erram.
“Kulang kami sa intensity, kulang din kami sa practice time, hindi pa namin kilala ang isa’t-isa, wala kaming tune-up games. Ilang araw lang kami nagkakilala,” Bolick said.
“Pero no excuse ‘yun. Nandito kami. Lahat ng player diyan, magagaling. Ako ine-expect ko na magagaling mga kasama ko so lahat yan ibibigay nila best nila.
“(Against Malaysia), iba ang magaling, (against Vietnam) iba ‘yung uminit. Sino ‘yung mainit, hahanapin namin. Susuportahan namin,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Gilas Women already figured out its semifinal foe in Indonesia, which battered Singapore, 77-37, in the women’s quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Gilas and Indonesia will meet at 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m.) in a contest coach Patrick Aquino predicts to be a difficult one.
But Aquino’s team got a big boost with the arrival of National University standouts Karl Ann Pingol and Angel Surada, who were coming off the UAAP Season 88 women’s basketball title series against eventual winner University of Santo Tomas.
“We are expecting a gold medal-like match because they are the defending champions. They also have experience playing FIBA Division A games,” Aquino said of Indonesia, which beat Gilas for the gold during the Cambodia games in 2023.
Kacey Dela Rosa was huge in wins over Malaysia (76-67) and Singapore (92-59), along with fellow SEA Games rookies Sophia Dignadice and Sarah Heyn and veterans Afril Bernardino and Janine Pontejos.
