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…
