HANOI—The Philippine men’s basketball team survived a scare from traditional regional rival Thailand and escaped with a 76-73 win that was, from every angle, ugly for a nation that’s ranked No. 34 in the world, the best in Southeast Asia.
And the game could have even gone to overtime had Nakorn Jaisanul nailed a three-pointer in Thailand’s last possession.
“This was really the team that I was worried about,” Philippines head coach Chot Reyes said. “We’re playing four Americans and we knew that this is a high-quality team.”
Reyes referred to Thais with American heritage Moses Morgan, Fred Lish, Jeremy Morgan and Antonio Price Soonthornchote, who topscored with 18 points.
“I don’t want to say that I expected it but I knew that there is a possibility that this [bad] start would happen,” Reyes added.
The Thais jumped the gun on Gilas for a 21-11 lead only to fall behind at 38-34 at the half. They remained stubbornm in the third quarter where they kept the Filipinos at bay, 52-58, entering the fourth period.
June Mar Fajardo drained a jumper with over a minute left in the game for a 75-68 Philippine lead but the Thais just won’t go away.
Thirdy Ravena missed two free throws and his older brother Kiefer split his foul shots with 6.7 seconds remaining, giving Thailand that opportunity to tie the game with a three-pointer.
“We just talked among ourselves to make sure that we don’t panic and we stick to our game plan,” Reyes said. “In the end, our experience just came through.”
Reyes added: “But like I said, our postgame talk was all about the need to just get better.”
Fajardo topscored with 28 points with 12 rebounds and two blocks, while Thirdy Ravena finished with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists for Gilas.
Soonthornchote had 18 and Morgan 15 points for the Thais.
The Philippines faces Cambodia at 5 p.m. (Hanoi time) on Tuesday.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes