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| Robert Bolick says "Night night" to Thailand. POC Media Pool |
MANILA--The Southeast Asian Games men's 5x5 basketball championship remains with Gilas Pilipinas as it escaped a wild gold medal game against host country Thailand with a 70-64 win on Friday night at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok.
Just like in its semifinal against Indonesia, Gilas worked its magic in the second half as Thailand, which looked solid in the first half, suddenly lost steam for most of the last 20 minutes.
Down by 13, 19-32, midway through the second quarter, Gilas slowly fought back and went on a 23-10 third quarter to steal the lead, 52-48.
Thailand started the fourth period on a strong note with a 7-2 run that gave them their last taste of the lead at 55-54 with eight and a half minutes left.
However, Gilas responded with a 13-0 run for its largest lead at 67-55, with 4:16 to play.
Thailand took advantage of late referee calls that hampered Gilas and went on a 9-1 run that cut the lead to four, 68-64, with 47.8 seconds left.
The Thais got a chance to cut the lead further after forcing Thirdy Ravena to a turnover, but Freddie Lish, a solid free-throw shooter, missed two charities off a Ced Manzano foul.
Manzano made up for the foul and got the rebound off a loose ball scramble and quickly passed it to Robert Bolick, who iced the game with two free throws with 8.1 seconds on the clock.
Jamie Malonzo led Gilas, which gave the Philippines its 20th SEA Games men's 5x5 basketball gold overall, with 17 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, and five steals.
Matthew Wright added 14 points on 3-of-6 shooting from long range and three rebounds as he finally slayed the ghost of 2022, winning it all in the SEA Games three years after being relegated to the silver in Hanoi.
Following the championship game win, the Philippines now has 50 gold medals, 73 silver medals, and 153 bronze medals.
However, the Philippines will remain in sixth place in the medal tally as Malaysia jumped to fourth with 56 golds and Singapore just ahead of the Filipinos with 52.
Emmanuel Ejesu and Chanatip Jakrawan each scored 13 points, with the latter grabbing 10 rebounds for Thailand, which settled for the silver in its home stand.
