The Philippine Online Chronicles

With the eliminations sweep completed, it's now time to set their eyes on the prize.

The Philippines men's basketball squad bulldozed yet another opponent in the continuation of their 2011 Southeast Asian games campaign on Wednesday at the BritAma Arena in downtown Jakarta.

Thailand was their latest victim after a 34-point demolition, ending with a score of 103-69, in their final Group A matchup. This sets up a semi-finals showdown against Malaysia on Friday.

Team Sinag was led by Fil-Am reinforcement Clifford Hodge of the NLEX Road Warriors in the PBA Developmental League (PBA D-League), who topped all scorers with 15 points. UAAP Rookie of the Year Kiefer Ravena, who previously tasted a wealth of international experience under the Under-18 banner, added 14 points with five assists.

Team Thailand, whose core players are part of the Chang Thailand Slammers of the ASEAN Basketball League, were bannered by the 12-point performance of Darongpan Apiromvilaichai. Star guard Attaporn Lertmalaiporn could not get his rhythm in the contest, settling for just five points in nearly two quarters' worth of play off the bench.

Meanwhile, Vietnam defeated Cambodia, 78-57, to avoid finishing last in a virtually weak Group A.

Coming off a day's rest, the women's squad faced Myanmar in just their second game of the tournament. Perlas seemed to be headed into trouble, playing without mainstay and team co-captain Cassie Tioseco, who provided the much needed ceiling for the squad.

However, the drawback of lacking the much-needed ceiling proved to be nothing as the Filipinas romped through a wire-to-wire victory over Myanmar, 57-39, to rack up their second win of the preliminaries.

Merenciana "Ewon" Arayi led all scorers with 13 points, with pivotman and former UAAP women's Most Valuable Player Analyn Almazan putting up 11 huge points to go along with 11 rebounds in a double-double effort.

May Yee starred for the Myanmar five with 10 points and 5 rebounds in the contest.
With Indonesia taking the day off, Thailand dispatched Malaysia, 74-59, in the other women's match of the day.

BOX SCORES – MEN’S
PHILIPPINES (103): Hodge 15, Ravena 14, Salva 12, Slaughter 11, Ellis 11, Parks 10, Lanete 8, Garcia 7, Monfort 6, Marcelo 3, Pascual 0
THAILAND (69): Apiromvilachai 12, Klahan 11, Kongkum 8, Kaedum 8, Jantuma 7, Shangtong 6, Lertmalaiporn 5, Kruatiwa 5, Apiromvilachai 2, Ghogar 2, Rittiphanyawong 0

Quarters: 37-21, 54-34, 75-49, 103-69

BOX SCORES – WOMEN’S
PHILIPPINES (57): Arayi 13, Almazan 11, Jacob 6, Gloriani 6, Adriano 6, Flormata 5, Limengco 3, Jose 2, Mercado 2, Borja 1, Grajales 0
MYANMAR (39): Yee 10, Wine 9, Y. Yee 7, Than 7, Susie 4, Lin 2, Aung 0, K. Aung 0, Zin 0, Moe 0, H. Lin  0
Quarters: 18-10, 26-23, 43-29, 57-39