SEA Games: Perlas Pilipinas rallies to stun Thailand

Photo from Fiba.com

Perlas Pilipinas made its way out of what looked like the end of the road to shock Thailand, 69-67, in the 29th Southeast Asian Games women’s basketball tournament Wednesday night at MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The gutsy Filipinos pulled off a houdini act late after finishing the game with a 16-2 run capped by the game-winning basket by Allana Lim off a nice assist by Frances Mae Cabinbin with less than 20 seconds to go.

The Philippines was on its way to seeing its gold medal hopes go down the drain after trailing, 65-53, with 5:19 remaining.

But the seemingly insurmountable lead only paved the way for Perlas’ character to show up and heroes to stand out.

Back-to-back baskets by Lim and Pontejos, who also shone on the defensive end with a couple of crucial steals down the stretch, tied it at 65 with 1:47 left.

The Thais momentarily stopped the bleeding to regain the lead, but Analyn Almazan knotted the count again at 67 with 42.4 seconds remaining before Lim and Cabinbin conspired for the clutch play.

The Philippines redeemed itself from a 78-68 loss to Indonesia to improve to 3-1.