By Mel Fernandez
Photo credit: FIFA Basketball
AUCKLAND, North Shore – Excitement was ramping up and ticket sales went through the roof for an exciting match between Gilas Pilipinas and the Tall Blacks on 30th June 2022 at the EventFinda Stadium.
Filipino News had even arranged with Basketball NZ to have the Melodika Band (a Kiwi band whose claim to fame is singing OPM songs in Tagalog) to sing both the Philippine and New Zealand national anthems as openers.
The Sports Inquirer had forewarned their readers that the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team, led by coach Nenad Vucinic, was “parading an undermanned squad led by pros Kiefer Ravena and Dwight Ramos against the Tall Blacks”.
And to the dismay of the fervent Filipino fans in attendance the Tall Blacks dominated and outmatched the Gilas Pilipinas team, claiming a 106-60 victory.
Carl Vincent Tamayo had 16 points and 5 rebounds for Gilas Pilipinas before leaving the game due to injury, while Rhenz Joseph Abando had 11 and Dwight Ramos had 6 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
Despite a much improved second half for the Philippines, they were no match for a powerful Tall Blacks squad – as evidenced by the 106-60 final score.
The post-game stats told a tale of dominance for the Kiwis, with 32 points generated from the Philippines 19 turnovers and 19 fast break points scored, compared to only 2 for the opposition.
Although both teams struggled with their outside shooting, the Tall Blacks scored almost half their points in the paint (52, versus 20 for Gilas Filipinas) and registered a generous 51 points off the bench.
New Zealand 106 – Prewster 15, Delany 14, Ngatai 12, Rusbatch 12, Webster 11, Ili 10, Vodanovich 8, Britt 7, Cameron 6, Smith-Milner 5, Timmins 4, Harris 2.
Philippines 60 – Tamayo 16, Abando 11, Lopez 8, Ramos 6, Ravena 6, Quiambao 4, Belangel 3, Chiu 2, Navarro 2, Abarrientos 2, Ildefonso 0.
Quarter scores: 23-13, 47-21, 73-43, 106-60.
They say that size isn’t everything, but when you are confronting a team of much taller and bigger basketball players it can be quite intimidating for comparably diminutive players.
New Zealand’s size, in particular, was a huge problem for the Filipinos, who missed the services of injured big man Ange Kouame and had no player standing taller than 6’8″, reported the Inquirer.
“We have injuries, we are short-handed and we have a lack of size,” Vucinic emphasized.
