When it comes to Southeast Asian basketball, there’s no denying that the Philippines is the king. Forty-point victories by Filipinos are commonplace, and tough challenges from foes happen once in a blue moon.
The throne is highly unlikely to be snatched away from the Philippines in the 2017 SEABA Championship that tips off on Friday at SMART-Araneta Coliseum. With Gilas Pilipinas parading PBA stars plus Andray Blatche, the Philippines is expected to destroy its opponents anew.
But there was a time when the Filipinos lost in SEABA. Yep, that happened.
The year was 1996, just the second time the SEABA Championship was held. The Filipinos had swept the four-game elimination round in dominant fashion, including a 95-81 win over Malaysia then coached by a young Tab Baldwin.
After topping the first round, the Philippines earned a spot in the championship game. By then, the team was assured of at least a silver–already an improvement over the country’s fourth place finish in the inaugural edition in 1994.
But the Filipinos, with the way they thrashed their rivals, had their eyes on the gold.
In the final, they faced host Indonesia which finished as No.2 behind the Philippines. The Filipinos had beaten them earlier, 94-84, making the Pinoys the favorites. But the Indonesians were seeking revenge.
Backed by a raucous crowd, the hosts got what they wanted, notching an 88-81 victory to win their first SEABA gold.
But the Philippine team questioned the game’s officiating, with head coach Eduard Vergeire confronting one referee from Thailand in the end-game. The Filipinos took note of the free throw discrepancy between the two teams: the Indonesians scored a total of 26 points from the line, compared to the Filipinos’ 15.
Here’s what a Filipino team official told Manila Standard after the game:
“We played with a psychological disadvantage that we should have insisted the tournament committee rectify. We had run-ins with this Thai referee from Game 1, and neutral referees should have officiated in the championship. But we proved to be polite guests and poor tacticians.”
The report also noted that for the finals, the Philippines asked for “neutral referees, of which there were two from Singapore”. But organizers assured that “officiating will be fair no matter who was assigned.”
But another Filipino official had a different assessment on why they lost: “It was a bad case of lack of mental maturity and toughness. We played to the referee’s tune. We have only ourselves to blame.”
The Philippines, obviously, was able to bounce back from that setback, as the country hasn’t dropped a game in the SEABA Championship since then.
Playing as hosts in the 1998 edition, the Filipinos brought out the brooms and completed a sweep en route to their first gold medal. They did the same for the next two editions.
The country’s FIBA suspension in 2005 prevented the Philippines from copping its fourth consecutive gold medal.
But in their return, the Filipinos went on to win five straight golds, with 2013 being an exception–the Philippines skipped the SEABA tournament that year as it was already qualified for the FIBA Asia Championship as hosts.
Gilas Pilipinas is poised to further extend the country’s 30-game win streak, and assert the country’s dominance again in the region. And while it’s highly improbable for the team to lose this year, the 1996 game serves as a gentle reminder that, yes, the Philippines was once beaten in SEABA.