In the women’s bracket, the Indonesian team wasted little time in brushing host Myanmar aside in their opening game of the SEA Games competition. Indonesia raced out to an 8-0 lead, prompting an early Myanmar timeout. The hosts came out from the break to score the next four points to halve the lead, but that was as close as the game would get and the outcome was never in doubt, with the final score Indonesia 104, Myanmar 39.
Both teams struggled with turnovers early, though it was Indonesia’s full-court pressure throughout the game, combined with their significant advantage in rebounding, that proved decisive. Though Indonesia managed to knock down some outside shots later in the game, early on it was a story of lay-up after lay-up.
Myanmar was led by center Thet Su Swe, who had 7 of the team’s 15 points by halftime. For Indonesia, guard WulanAyuningrum tallied 20 points through three quarters and did a fine job of running the Indonesian offense and distributing the basketball. Indonesian center Jacklien Ibo, using her size advantage, accumulated 14 by the close of the third quarter.
The first match of the 27th SEA Games was between the men’s teams from Thailand and Singapore, which was a showcase of speed and athleticism from the start. Clearly a more organized team, Thailand led at the half 37-29.
Both teams made changes during the intermission, coming out more aware of each other’s style of play for the third quarter. Ultimately, Singapore’s offense couldn’t keep up with Thailand, and the advantage at the free throw line Singapore enjoyed due to Thailand’s aggressive play wasn’t enough to let the Lion City back within striking distance. The final score was Thailand 69, Singapore 59.
DasonWutipong, a forward for the Thai squad, said, “It was a tough match against Singapore because they run hard and fast. They have very good defense, but their offense is weak, so that’s where we got the upper hand this time. We’re going to have to do a lot better as a team if we want to get to the finals.”
Singapore fielded a young team, with an average age of just 22.5 years, but although disappointed with their loss, coach Neo Beng Siang said, “The players didn’t get enough outside shots, instead points were from free throws. The Thai team’s game is aggressive and when that happened our team backed off. To win our future matches we have to be prepared for this kind of play. They are young, but we’re grooming them for the future.”
The second game featured rivals Malaysia and Indonesia. The contest started slow, but in favour of Malaysia,giving them a comfortable lead of 33 to 15 at the end of the second quarter, despite a low field goal percentage.
Indonesia, however, came back strong in the second half, led by 21-year old Andakara Prastawa Dhyaksa who buried a succession of three-pointers to bring his team within two points of Malaysia at 39-37.
With the score tied at 51 apiece late in the game, Indonesia committed some unnecessary fouls, allowing Malaysia to build a cushion from the charity stripe and close out the contest 61-53.
“I’m the youngest and I do sometimes rely on the others for guidance, but I was nervous when I got on court. We had a bad start in the first two quarters and we fought hard to take the lead, but made many mistakes which we cannot afford to do, especially when we play Thailand. They’ve got a good offense, so we’ll have to be very strong on the defensive glass,” said Dhyaksa.
In the final game of the day, the Myanmar men apparently missed the opening whistle, trailing Cambodia 42-11 after the first period of play. And while the host team outscored their opponent in each of the final three quarters, Cambodia came away victors 75-60.
The game was still competitive at the 5:00 mark of the fourth, with Cambodia up 68-54. However, neither team was able to consistently put the ball in the basket, with Cambodia going some four minutes without scoring a point, but Myanmar only able to tally a single bucket during the same stretch.
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