Perlas’ bid for gold ends in loss to Malaysia

There weren’t any comebacks this time.

Perlas Pilipinas kissed its gold medal hopes goodbye in women’s basketball after a heartbreaking 60-56 defeat to Malaysia in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games Thursday at MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

Just like how they fought back late Wednesday against Thailand, the Filipinos again staged a huge rally in the fourth quarter.

After trailing by as much as 16, 43-27, midway through the third frame, Perlas tied the game at 54 with an off-the-glass three from Ara Abaca with 2:38 remaining.

Perlas, though, failed to grab the lead and committed two turnovers in the last two minutes while Malaysia got a huge undergoal stab from Eugene Ting off an assist from Chong Yin Yin with 50.0 ticks to play to push Malaysia up, 57-54.

Pang Hui Pin split from the line for Malaysia with 16.2 seconds left but Allana Lim kept Perlas in the game with a layup four seconds after.

Unfortunately, Saw Wei Yin was cool from the stripe as she drilled two pressure packed free throws to seal the win for hosts.

Lim topped Perlas with 17 points, six rebounds, and two assists, while Analyn Almazan added 11 markers and five boards in the losing effort.

Afril Bernardino, France Mae Cabinbin, and Abaca all had seven points apiece.

Silver is the highest the Filipinos can get with their 3-2 record, as they hope that Indonesia falls to Thailand and Singapore in the coming gamedays.

Perlas Pilipinas wraps up its schedule against Vietnam on Friday.

Chong paced Malaysia in the win with 12 points and eight rebounds, while Yap Fook Yee had 10.

The Scores:

MALAYSIA 60 – Chong 12, Yap 10, Pang 9, Low 8, Rajintiran 8, Ting 8, Saw 4, Yaakob 1.
PERLAS PILIPINAS 56 – Lim 17, Almazan 11, Abaca 7, Bernardino 7, Cabinbin 7, Dy 6, Resultay 1, Animam 0, Castro 0, Pontejos 0, Sambile 0, Tongco 0.

Quarters: 13-12, 34-23, 47-38, 60-56.