Gilas cleans up FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers after sweep of South Korea

At the final day of the Clark Bubble, there is no such thing as luck for the Philippines and coach Tab Baldwin, as it swept Group A of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers with a repeat win over archrivals South Korea 82-77 Sunday afternoon at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Pampanga.

With the spot at the competition proper that tips off in August at Indonesia already secured four days ago in a nail-biting fashion in their first meeting, Gilas made sure that there's no fluke in beating the East Asian side as it hold their nerve in a slugfest, capping off their qualifying campaign with a perfect 6-0 record despite a slow start to the contest when their opponents scored nine points without reply from the opening tip.

In the process, the Philippines remain unbeaten at home against its nemesis, scoring its eight consecutive triumph over the South Koreans dating back to the 1954 Asian Games.

Guard Dwight Ramos put up another efficient outing, as he led Gilas once again with 19 points on a 5/9 clip from beyond the arc for an efficiency rating of 19, adding five assists, three rebounds and two steals in the process.

The incoming Ateneo transfer had a lot of help, especially on the bench where Jordan Heading and RJ Abarrientos joined Kai Sotto in scoring 10 markers apiece, as the Filipino bench mob outscored the Koreans, 36-19 and converted 19 points from their 12 turnovers.

What was more astounding in this game is that Gilas have beaten South Korea on their own game at outside shooting, hitting almost 38% (14/37) from beyond the arc as opposed to just 10/35 for the Koreans.

Naturalized centre Ricardo Ratliffe (Ra Gun-Ah) top-scored the contest with a double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds for South Korea in a losing effort that capped off their qualifying campaign with a 4-2 record.

The former Star Hotshot import had back-up with Davidson Wildcat Hyunjung Lee and Yang Hong-seok adding 13 and 12 markers respectively, but they were badly let down by their offensive rebounding that doomed them in this contest despite having five more assists than Gilas.

With neither side lead in double figures for the entire game, both sides traded runs and shots for the entire contest but it was not even settled until the final 25.5 seconds with Wednesday’s hero SJ Belangel drew an unsportsmanlike foul on Lee Dae-sung.

That untimely foul took the fight out of Cho Sang-Hyun’s men in which they are within a bucket, 79-77 on a Ratliffe lay-up before that, with Belangel splitting his charities.

Twenty seconds later, Ramos calmly sank a pair off another Dae-sung foul to seal the deal and accomplished something that even its PBA-laden squads have failed to do in the history of this fixture: beating South Korea twice in as many games.

The scores:

PHILIPPINES 82 - Ramos 19, Sotto 10, Heading 10, Abarrientos 10, Navarro 8, Kouame 7, Baltazar 6, Belangel 6, Nieto 3, Go 3, Chiu 0

SOUTH KOREA 77 - Ratcliffe 20, HJ Lee 13, Yang 12, DS Lee 9, SH Lee 8, Kim 8, Jeon 3, Byeon 2, Yeo 2, Ha 0

Quarter scores: 18-20, 38-34, 56-54, 82-77

PHOTOS: FIBA