Though no one was in attendance for Gilas’ fourth home game in the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Beau Belga knew that there were plenty of fans waiting for them outside of the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
But not having a crowd to cheer them on turned the fabled Big Dome into a neutral territory early on.
“It’s kinda surreal. It felt really weird na naglalaro ka sa sarili mong bansa or in your home stadium, playing another country, and there’s nobody there cheering you,” shared Gilas head coach Yeng Guiao.
The effects of the closed door game showed in the opening frame, as the highly-favored Philippine-side faced a deficit that went as high as 17 points against the lowly Qataris. The Filipino cagers needed to find inspiration by themselves.
“Ang hiningi ko sa kanila noong halftime, lamang ata ng trese noong halftime, sabi ko idikit niyo lang, kahit mga sais or ocho, para pagpasok ng fourth quarter, may chance tayo,” added Guiao. “Pero after the third quarter, lamang na kami. So they really put out a great effort in the third quarter.”
And leading the way in Gilas’ third quarter spurt was burly big man Beau Belga.
Besides his 11-point outing, the 6-foot-5, 280-pound forward did it on both ends, tallying six rebounds and three swats as well.
“Tulad nga ng sinabi ni coach, inalat noong first half. Tapos hindi pa kami dumedepensa. So talagang sinabi namin sa isa’t isa, pagdating ng third quarter, hindi pwedeng ganoon, kung gusto naming manalo everybody has to step up,” shared Belga, who even led a fastbreak situation a couple of times.
“Noong third quarter, talagang nag-commit kami na dedepensa kami. So we made easy baskets, nakaka-steal kami so naging madali. And nagkaroon ng kumpyansa lahat. Pati ‘yung second group, pagpasok, talagang depensa,” added the 10-year pro, who made his Qualifiers debut this window, after Gilas’ 92-81 victory.
During that run, each Gilas player had inspiration of their own. For Belga, it was about not letting down the millions of Filipinos watching all around the world. He knew that a riot would ensue if Gilas had lost to Group F’s bottom-ranked team Qatar.
“Siguro ano lang, andun yung intensity, and yun nga ang sinabi ni Coach Yeng, lahat nage-effort, tapos kung ikaw nagre-relax ka, mahihiya ka sa sarili mo,” expressed Belga, who raised his averages in the Qualifiers to 9.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks.
“Mahirap matalo sa home court mo, baka paglabas mo ng Araneta, batuhin ka ng fans diyan, ‘di ba? So talagang pinilit namin. Pinilit namin na makuha ‘yung panalo today.”
