Gilas back on top

GILAS Pilipinas regained supremacy in Southeast Asian Games basketball, defeating home team Cambodia, 80-69, on Tuesday in the gold medal match in Phnom Penh.
It was a huge finish for the Philippine basketball team in the regional meet, winning its semifinal game against 2022 champion Indonesia and getting back at pool play tormentor Cambodia in the final.
Justin Brownlee came up with 23 points to lead all scorers, powering Gilas past a squad featuring six naturalized Cambodians.
Chris Newsome scored 16, while Marcio Lassiter added 10 points for the Philippines.
Philippines ends up fifth
THE Philippines finished with 58 gold medals, six more than last year’s haul, but wound up fifth overall in the 2023 Cambodia Southeast Asian Games after a fourth-place finish in Hanoi.
Vietnam took the top spot with 136 gold medals, followed by Thailand with 108, Indonesia with 85 and host Cambodia with 81.
Thailand will host the next SEA Games in 2025.
Solid finish

ALVIN Lobreguito won the men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling to deliver for the Philippines on the final day of competitions in the Souetheast Asian Games in Cambodia.
Ronil Tubog topped the men’s 61kg freestyle wrestling.
Kickboxers Claudine Veloso (women’s K1 -52kg) and Gretel De Paz (women’s low kick -56kg) also won, along with Crisamuel Delfin and Trixie Mary Lofranco in the men’s and women’s individual anyo open weapon in arnis.
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