South Korea made the Team Pilipinas snipers look like the Wonder Girls (*point-clap-clap-point-clap*) tonight as they held the Philippines to miserable shooting all game long. Willie Miller, Jayjay Helterbrand, James Yap, and Gabe Norwood threw up enough bricks to build a full house (heh), while Korea capitalized on missed rotations by the Philippine defense down the stretch en route to winning their third straight game in the competition.

The lone bright spot for the Philippines was Cyrus Baguio, who dazzled the crowd (and players from both teams) with ankle-breaking drives and acrobatic layups, showing swagger that turned Tianjin’s shiny hardcourt into the concrete jungles from his hometown Iligan City. But Korea made timely adjustments, making sure to foul Baguio each time he crossed halfcourt on fastbreak opportunities.

Team Pilipinas missed Japeth Aguilar for the second straight game. With Kerby Raymundo still unable to find his rhythm in this tournament, Yeng Guiao was forced to play the corpse of Sonny Thoss extended minutes at power forward. I know Ranidel de Ocampo is a couple of inches shorter, but he’s a better outside shooter and he’s quicker on defensive rotations.

Tomorrow is an off-day for the competition, but on Monday, Team Pilipinas will be facing a dangerous Chinese-Taipei team that almost beat Iran on the opening day of competitions. If there’s a silver lining to take away from this game, it’s that this team goes all out with effort and heart, and if we show that again on Monday, we ought to win that game.