KUALA LUMPUR: A valiant fight back after a poor start allowed Malaysia to retain the Sea Games women's basketball gold medal after finishing the tournament with a perfect record.
A 65-60 win over Thailand in the final round-robin match at the Maba Stadium on Saturday saw Malaysia finish top of the seven-team league with a 6-0 record.
Coach Yoong Sze Yuin praised the spirit of her girls, who trailed 27-16 in the first quarter before launching a fightback to enter half-time with Thailand leading 39-35.
"I told them to play their very best and show it to the whole country," said Sze Yuin. "The secret to our success is to play hard, train hard and play together as the team."
After Malaysia led 51-49 at the end of the third quarter, the match remained in the balance at 60-60 with two minutes remaining.
Chong Yin Yin sank two free throws to edge Malaysia ahead before Eugene Ting made the game-winning basket for 64-60 and then scoring a free throw for good measure.
"They were too tense at the start and I told them to just play their normal game," added Sze Yuin. "I asked them to calm down and focus on defence.
"We were in foul trouble and we had to stay calm and try to penetrate their defence because the referees were ready to blow for fouls.
“With two minutes to go, we always have a chance because in basketball two minutes can be a long time. We just needed to be good in defence and offence.
"Eugene is a good shooter so I asked to go to the basket more often and take her chances."
Eugene finished with 18 points and Yin Yin with 16 while Yap Fook Yee added 12 points.
Captain Nur Izzati Yaakob said the gold medal was just reward for the hard work the the players put in.
"We are very happy because we have been preparing for this Sea Games for a long time to try to defend the gold," said Nur Izzati, who also led the team in 2015. "It was a tight game and we were under a lot of pressure. We won this gold because our defence was good."
Thailand settled for silver while Indonesia took home bronze despite the two teams finishing with 4-2 records along with fourth-placed Philippines, who missed out on the podium on points differential.