Limiting the opponent to 60 points for they will break the 61-year curse: a historic moment.
Capturing the crown, rendering the opposing team into their lowest scored point for the tournament, and clinching the fourth gold for the Philippines, all achieved in a single match by the current king of Asian basketball court, Gilas Pilipinas restricts Jordan, 70-60, to claim the first ever gold medal for the country since 1962 in 19th Asian Games Hangzhou, Friday night at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium.
Double-double performance from the coined 'greatest import', Justin Brownlee, of 20 points and 10 rebounds helped push the team into victory.
"The Filipino heart, the Filipino pride…there is nothing like it. We displayed it in this tournament. We were down in some games, and we were up, and then we came back. The Filipino heart toughened us up a lot, especially in this gold medal game." Brownlee said.
Ange Kouame accompanies the double-double figure of his teammate with his very own 14 points, 11 rebound, Chris Newsome and Scottie Thompson added their 13 and 11 points, respectively, to fully maneuver the game into their winning.
"We wanted to fight for everybody, we wanted to fight for the country. It's an amazing win," Kouame said in an interview.
“Who would’ve thought this dark-skinned kid who played barefoot basketball in the streets of Pangasinan would be an Asian Games gold medalist one day?” CJ Perez took to social media his disbelief over his successful basketball-journey.
After the National team squanders a 13-point momentum, the final half of the game enacts with close calls, escaped by free throws, but Gilas picks its tempo once again leaving the opposing team to falter up until Newsome seals the game with two successful free throws, 70-60.
A relay of trey from both teams sequences out the first half of the game, Brownlee handles the game with a securing three-point dial to harass Jordan in which the latter replies with their own long distance shot to end the reigning of the former reaching a deadlock of 31-31.
With this, the Philippines is placed up to 18th place with the newly acquired fourth gold, additionally the country boasts two silvers and 12 bronze.
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