The Gilas Pilipinas, a name for the Philippines men’s national basketball team, have won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. According to ESPN, it is the first time they’ve won the gold medal in 61 years.
The team defeated Jordan in a 70-60 victory on Friday.
“It was just a great win. If you go back to the stat sheet, throw this damn thing out. That game is all about toughness and defense,” head coach Tab Baldwin told reporters, according to the PhilStar Global.
Friday’s championship game was tense. The teams headed into the locker room at halftime tied 31-31. A 14-4 scoring run in the third quarter helped the Gilas pull ahead, Olympics.com reports.
Filipino American player Justin Brownlee had 20 points and five assists, playing over 38 minutes for the team.
“We knew that we would have a hard chance of playing in the game, especially when we lost to them earlier in the tournament,” Brownlee said, according to Olympics.com.
“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.”
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