Nationals dethroned by Indonesians

MANILA, Philippines — Horror in Hanoi.

Mighty Gilas Pilipinas fell from its lofty throne in the Southeast Asian Games yesterday in Vietnam in a horrific defeat to vastly-improved Indonesia, 85-81, that stung like hell for a nation that eats, breathes and sleeps basketball.

The Filipinos, the alpha dogs of the biennial meet for the longest time, didn’t look the part for majority of the 40-minute game that served as de facto championship between the tournament’s two unbeaten teams.

In contrast, the resolute and sweet-shooting Indonesians gratefully pounced on their opportunity to score an upset for the ages and a tournament breakthrough.

Naturalized import Marques Bolden drove the dagger on Gilas as it frantically tried to salvage the most cherished gold medal of all in the homestretch.

The former NBA player soared high to foil Matthew Wright’s game-tying attempt, leading to two charities by Abraham Grahita that restored a four-point cushion with six seconds left.

And after Thirdy Ravena cut it to half with a quick two, Bolden took care of business from the stripe to stretch the Indonesia margin to an unassailable four-point advantage with three seconds left.

As the final buzzer sounded, the new king of SEAG basketball whooped it up at the Thanh Tri Gymnasium, jumping like kids who successfully stole candy from the neighborhood bullies.

And the deposed rulers, they were left in unbearable pain and tears, pondering what went wrong amid the sad realization of surrendering the gold they held for the last 13 editions of the SEAG and letting down 100 million souls expecting nothing less.

Indonesia used the three-point line as main weapon, rifling in 13 against Gilas’ meager three. The team supervised by former Gilas mentor Rajko Toroman and reinforced by American-Indonesian Brandon Jawato and promising teener Derrick Michael Xzavierro, also had more assists, 21-13, and bench points, 44-9, against the Pinoy dribblers, who relied heavily on a short rotation.

The men’s basketball silver medal ended a woeful campaign for the Gilas contingent, which came in with high hopes of sweeping the 5-on-5 and 3x3 competitions like it did back home in 2019.

As it is, only the Gilas women’s got the job done after finishing on top of the single-round robin competition with a 4-1 win-loss mark. Gilas men’s 3x3 earlier settled for the bronze while its female counterparts missed out on a podium finish.

The Philippine cagebelles’ title-retention celebration was somehow smeared by a 96-93 loss to eventual bronze medalist Malaysia (3-2) in their last elims game. Indonesia took the silver.