MANILA (Philippines) - The game for the gold medal in men’s basketball is set following the Semi-finals wins of Thailand and the Philippines. Meanwhile, the Indonesia women’s basketball clinched the bronze medal.

Thailand stopped Vietnam dead in their tracks in a classic thriller that went down to the wire, 101-95.

Vietnam actually held a 4-point lead with less than 4 minutes left in the game, led by Chris Dierker’s 31 points and 10 rebounds. Vietnam also had Tran Dang Khoa (19 points) who hit big time shots and Tam Dinh who had 21 points but was hounded by foul trouble.

With the pressure on Thailand, Nattakarn Muangboon and Wattana Suttisin stepped up in the final minutes of the game. Both players pitched in 4 points each to tie the game and take the lead for good, Muangboon ending up with a team-high 19 points and Suttisin with 14 points.

Tyler Lamb had another all-around game of 15 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals to earn a trip to the gold medal game.

In the bronze medal game for women’s basketball, Indonesia overcame a slow start to beat Malaysia, 70-59.

The defending SEA Games women’s basketball champions Malaysia burst out to a lead as big as 13 in the first quarter, with the score ending at the first interval 27-17. From there, Indonesia exploded for 13 unanswered points to end the first half in the lead, 38-33.

Indonesia got a dominant game from center Gabriel Sophia who had 17 points and 17 rebounds in the win for the bronze medal.

In the final game of the day, the Philippines fended off a feisty Indonesia national team to advance to the men’s basketball gold medal game, 97-70. Indonesia trailed by only 4 at the end of the first quarter and 11 at the end of the half.

However, the Philippines broke away with a 16-0 run and finished the third quarter with another 13-0 run to clinch a ticket to the title game for good.

All players got on the scoreboard for the Philippines once again, led by Christian Standhardinger who had 14 points.

Both the men’s and women’s teams of the Philippines and Thailand will be facing tomorrow with a SEA Games gold medal on the line. The bronze medal of men’s basketball will be decided between Indonesia and Vietnam.

FIBA