GILAS Pilipinas will go home with the gold medal that matters most to Filipinos.
Enduring the criticisms and doubts thrown at them, the Filipino cagers proved they’re still the best in the region, redeeming themselves from the heartbreak of Hanoi last year.
With naturalized forward Justin Brownlee showing the way yesterday, Gilas humbled a suddenly-listless Cambodian five bannered by a slew of American cagers 80-69 yesterday to regain the gold medal in the men’s basketball tournament of the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games.
Before a pro-Cambodia crowd that included no less than Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Morodok Techo Elephant Hall 2, Brownlee scored a game-high 23 points on top of seven rebounds, to go with four assists, while his local teammates provided the much-needed help.
Chris Newsome chipped in 16 markers, two boards and four dimes, while Marcio Lassiter had 10 and five for the nationals.
The trio of Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Christian Standhardinger, and CJ Perez also added nine points each as the charges of coach Chot Reyes got back at the Cambodians, who handed them a bitter 69-78 loss when they first met in the group stage six days ago.
Gilas came off an 84-76 triumph over erstwhile defending champion Indonesia last Monday in their semifinals duel, while Cambodia trounced Thailand 76-66 also in the Last Four.
The Thais downed the Indonesians 83-69 to bag the bronze medal.
The Philippine five zoomed to a 44-33 lead at the halfway mark that it stretched to as much as 64-51 on a Standhardinger basket that stood as the count heading into the final stanza.
Cambodia whittled the deficit to 59-64 on a Dwayne Morgan layup with 7:12 left but that proved to be its most noteworthy stand as Gilas held its ground the rest of the way to deny the first time host a first-ever mint in the biennial meet.
Dwayne Peterson carried the fight for Cambodia with a double-double of 18 points and 14 caroms, while Darrinray Dorsey had 17 markers.
Morgan and Sayeedalkabir Pridgett had 13 each for Cambodia.
