By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
It’s time for the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team program to rethink everything after suffering a stunning loss against Cambodia, 79-68, in the ongoing Southeast Asian Games last May 11, 2023, held at the Morodok Techo Sports Complex in Cambodia.
The Filipino hoopers, who were expected to kick off their redemption campaign this year with a bang after only settling for the silver medal last SEA Games, took a beating against Cambodia and only led twice in the entire game.
Despite a strong start from Christian Standhardinger and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, the naturalized players of Cambodia began to take over and imposed their will underneath to retake the lead after four minutes, 7-6.
The Cambodians then never looked back and took control of the entire game and were successful in sustaining their lead until the final buzzer.
Gilas’ worst nightmare then came after the Cambodians ballooned their lead to double digits, 21-9, after a power move inside by their naturalized center against the defense of Standhardinger.
Although the national team was getting great looks from the three-point line to start the second quarter, the Filipinos still can’t trim the lead as they found themselves in a cold drought that was capitalized on by the Cambodians.
Chris Newsome tried all that he could to put Gilas back in the game and scored several mid-range jumpers but Cambodia’s size proved to be the biggest factor as they just bulldozed their way inside the shaded lane.
Standhardinger top-scored for Gilas in a losing effort with 14 points and 11 rebounds backstopped by Newsome who put up 11 points.
Cambodia on the other hand looked fluid in their win against Gilas and is led by Darrin Dorsey, Sayeed Pridgett, Brandon Peterson, Dwyane Morgan, and Darius Henderson.
Now holding a 1-1 record, Gilas is now in a must-win situation to advance to the knockout stage and will need to beat Singapore today.
