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Published on October 19, 2007

The Thai team made it three wins out of four to complete the round-robin stage of the five-nations event. The hosts were desperate to top the standings to get easier opponents in the semi-finals but their hopes were dashed when reigning SEA Games champions Malaysia narrowly lost to the Philippines 67-66.

The Philippines' victory meant that they emerged with a perfect record.

The Malaysians managed to cut down the deficit to only a single point at the end of the third quarter, which ensured a nerve-jangling finish.

With the temperature simmering in the final session in which the lead changed hands several times, the officials' made matters worse with poor decisions. In one incident, Malaysia's Siao Foong

Chow appeared to have made contact with the face of her marker but the referee failed to penalise,

infuriating the Philippines bench.

With the game on a knife edge in the fourth quarter, Victoria Brick sunk in a jumper with only nine seconds left on the clock to earn the Filipinas a deserving victory.

"It was a clearly tough match. We allowed them to come back from a 10-point gap in the third quarter. But, we tightened up in the fourth and I'm delighted we won," said Matthen Gastin, the Philippines' head

coach

"It was a fair result. The officiating was poor though. I would have been disappointed if we had lost. The win is very important to us," he added.

The Philippines, who completed a four-year Fiba ban from international tournaments due to the absence of a national association, will face Indonesia while Thailand have a daunting task against Malaysia in the last four today.

Kitinan Sanguansak 

The Nation

Phuket