Philippines lost to Cambodia 79-68 in the men’s 5×5 basketball tournament at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh.
That previous sentence — or any other version of it — had never before been written in Philippine sports writing history, yet that’s exactly what happened Thursday night at the oven-hot Elephant Hall of the Morodok Techo Stadium in a tense, dramatic game that threatened to spiral out of control near the end.
Reinforced by five naturalized players from the United States and two Cambodian-American players, the hosts raced to a 26-14 lead after one quarter and held off every Gilas Pilipinas attempt at a rally to book their second win in Group A and clinch a historic spot in the crossover semifinals.
