HOSTS Cambodia brought the hammer down on the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team with a 79-68 rout in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games men’s basketball tournament on Thursday at the Morodok Techo Elephant Hall 2.
Sporting six naturalized players that touted both height and skill, Cambodia got off to a fiery start and never looked back to hand the Philippines its first loss of the competition. The Gilas must now win over Singapore on Saturday to earn a ticket to the semifinals.
Darrin Dorsey, one of Cambodia’s naturalized players, led the team with 22 points highlighted by five makes from beyond the arc. Sayeed Pridgett added 17 markers as Cambodia picked up its second victory after its overwhelming debut win over Singapore.
Christian Standhardinger carried the fight for the Gilas with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Chris Newsome added 11 markers. Naturalized Filipino Justin Brownlee struggled to get anything going due to cramps and had just 10 points, missing all but three of his 13 attempts.
Previously the overlords of the SEA Games basketball tournament, the Philippines has struggled of late. They lost the gold medal to Indonesia in the last SEA Games competition before losing to Cambodia in the group stage.
The listless loss was not lost on the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas’ (SBP) chairman emeritus, Manny V. Pangilinan, who tweeted: “What a disgraceful game for Gilas. An ignominious defeat which will be etched deeply in infamy. SBP - what happened?”