MANILA, Philippines — E-Gilas Pilipinas moved closer to a successful title redemption bid after booking a finals ticket in the Southeast Asian Conference of the FIBA Esports Open III with a sweep of Mongolia Saturday night.
The unbeaten Nationals, who also dominated the group preliminaries, trounced the Mongolians in the best-of-three semifinals, 95-35, 64-58, for their third finals stint in as many editions of the booming virtual FIBA tourney.
Ace guard Aljon “Shintarou” Cruzin normed 36.0 points and eight triples in two games for e-Gilas, which will shoot for the championship today against the winner between Indonesia and Vietnam.
His backcourt partner Rial “Rial” Polog Jr. (24 in Game One, 16 in Game Two) was also solid with two dagger treys in the much closer second game after a 60-point semis opener win.
E-Gilas’ another dominant showing mirrored its pair of resounding victories Friday night against Vietnam and Maldives to complete a Group One sweep by a combined winning margin of 132 points.
The Philippine team clobbered Vietnam, 78-40 then scored a whopping 124-30 victory over Maldives behind the 54-point eruption of Cruzin built on 13 triples and 14 assists.
E-Gilas won the inaugural FIBA Esports Open last June but fell short of a back-to-back crown after bowing to Australia in the finale of the second edition late last year.