Nightmare game for Gilas.
Gilas Pilipinas’ quest to reclaim gold in men’s basketball in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will be extraordinarily tough—perhaps tougher than anyone ever imagined.
This much was evident after Gilas suffered a 79-68 setback at the hands a Cambodian squad reinforced by six—yes, six!—naturalized players and egged on by a partisan, energetic crowd. It was the Philippines' first ever loss in the preliminary stage since 1997, when a team coached by Dong Vergeire lost a close 76-72 decision to Malaysia.
As expected, Cambodia’s recruits did the heavy lifting, with five of them sharing the court practically the entirety of the game. Guards Darrin Dorsey and Oscar Lopes took care of the playmaking and outside sniping, while Sayeed Pridgett, Dwayne Morgan, Darius Henderson, and Brandon Peterson took turns manning the paint for Cambodia at both ends.
Dorsey led the charge for Cambodia, scoring 21 points on 5-for-11 shooting after missing the hosts’ opening game destruction of Singapore on Wednesday. Lopes was just as spectacular, recording an all-around stat line of 13 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assist, and 1 steal as the Cambodians did just about everything right.
In contrast, Gilas could not get anything going, shooting a paltry 28-for-76 from the field on a ghastly 5-for-20 clip from beyond the arc. The nationals even missed 9 of their 16 freebies in a nightmare of a game that was marked by some tense moments in the last 20 seconds. This developed after Cambodia’s coach, Harry Savaya, called a timeout with the game well in hand—something Chot Reyes, Chris Ross and the rest of Gilas did not appreciate.
Gilas' quest for redemption, though, is still alive, but it will need to beat Singapore on Saturday if it wants to finish in the top 2 of Pool A and enter the knockout semifinals, presumably as the second seed behind Cambodia.