PHNOM PENH (Cambodia) - The first day of action in the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments at the 32nd South East Asian (SEA) Games concluded with wins by the Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia women’s teams and the Philippines, Cambodia men’s teams.

The first game of the day which started at 9:00 AM (local time) ended up being an exciting one as Indonesia women’s won a tight one against Vietnam, 67-62.

The two teams traded leads in every single quarter and for a total of 15 times. Indonesia rallied behind the strong performance of Kim Pierre-Louis who had 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. This should come as no surprise to fans who watched her at the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2021 Division B where she averaged 19.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game for Indonesia.

Indonesia also got double-digit scoring performances from Peyton Witted (11 points), Clarita Antonio (10 points), and Yuni Anggraeni (10 points).

That allowed them to withstand the production of the Truong Twins, My (21 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists) and Vy (14 points) from the Vietnam side.

The next few games that followed were more lop-sided. Thailand crushed Singapore 78-26 in the women’s competition, while the top men’s contenders the Philippines led from wire to wire against Malaysia in a 94-49 victory.

Thailand were able to hold their opponents to single-digit scoring across all four quarters en route to the landslide victory. All players got on the scoreboard for Thailand with team veteran Supira Klunbut leading the way with 12 points.

Gilas men’s nearly had the full squad scoring at least a field goal with the exception of Chris Ross, though the seasoned guard had 6 rebounds to his name. It was instead youngster, Michael Phillips, who impressed in his national team debut with 9 points and 15 rebounds. Leading Gilas in scoring was Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, who was also making his debut with the national team on the hardwood, with 15 points.

Arguably the most exciting game of the day was between the women’s teams of Malaysia and SEA Games hosts Cambodia. The home team built up a lead of as big as 19 points just before the halftime break, but Malaysia never backed down.

Coach Tracy York’s squad commanded a 32-18 third-quarter advantage and took control of the fourth quarter. Even though the game proceeded to an overtime session to the delight of the entertained fans, Malaysia continue to hold the momentum and were able to come away with the win.

Cambodia had a trio of 20-plus scorers in Brittany Dinkins (28 points), Mariah Cooks (26 points), and Meighan Simmons (23 points).

However, this was not enough to hold back the passion and fire of the Malaysian squad that was led by their two veteran stars Pang Hui Pin and Yap Yee Fook. Pang, who has long been considered one of Malaysia’s best players, was merely one assist shy of a triple-double and finished the game with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. Meanwhile, team captain Yap scored the most points in the day among all teams with 35 points on 7 three-pointers to go with 10 rebounds.

Hosts Cambodia were still able to end the day with a win as they easily took care of Singapore, 85-60 in the men’s tournament.

It didn’t take too long for Cambodia’s lead to balloon to double-digits and they maintained that cushion to the final buzzer. With multiple players making their national team debuts, it was Oscar Lopez and Darius Henderson who led the team in scoring with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Both players also grabbed 7 rebounds in the big win for the host team.

FIBA