CEBU City, Philippines – The Philippines’ the Gilas Pilipinas reclaimed the lost basketball glory after beating the host team Cambodia 80-69 in the gold medal game at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games 5×5 Basketball Competition at the Morodok Techno National Stadium at the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
The win also avenged Philippine’s humiliating 79-68 loss to the reinforced Cambodian squad in the elimination, about five days ago.
It was not a smooth sailing for Gilas who was badly bruised following a grueling semifinal duel with the defending champions Indonesia in the semifinal game on Monday. The Philippines was trailing mostly in that game before their defense clamped down Indonesia’s naturalized players as its offense started to gain confidence in the second half to score an 84-76 win.
After allowing the host squad to take over the first quarter, Justin Brownlee proved his worth as he led the Philippine side in a masterful second quarter onslaught that took away the fight from the Cambodian side.
Brownlee who finished with the game high 23 points got the needed help from Chris Newsome who delivered 16 points and Macio Lassiter who contributed 10 markers for the Gilas.
CJ Perez, Christian Standhardinger and Matt Ganuelas-Rossier also did their offensive contributions that helped Gilas build a 13-point lead shortly before the halftime ended.
The double-digit lead was Gilas cushion every time Cambodia tried to make a daring run and Brownlee was always there to give answer for the Philippine side.
The Philippines regained the status as the basketball powerhouse in the region which they lost Indonesia in Vietnam two years ago.
Brandon Peterson topscored for Cambodia with 18 points, Darren Dorsey added 17 and Dwayne Morgan and Sayeed Pridgett finished with 13 points each for the silver medalists.
Gilas’ win was the 56th gold medal for the Philippines in the biennial games and the country’s 19th for the country at the SEA Games.
The Box Scores:
Philippines (80) – Brownlee 23, Newsome 16, Lassiter 10, Standhardinger 9, Perez 9, Ganuelas-Rosser 9, Lastimosa 4, Tolentino 0, Ross 0, Phillips 0, Amos 0.
Cambodia (69) – Peterson 18, Dorsey 17, Morgan 13, Pridgett 13, Henderson 6, Lopes 2, Ravuth 0.
Quarters: 21-22; 44-33; 64-51; 80-69.
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