THE long wait is over.

The Philippines ended 61 years of frustrations by winning the men’s basketball gold medal in the Asian Games for the first time since 1962.

Justin Brownlee, Ange Kouame and Chris Newsome provided the brightest moments as Gilas Pilipinas brought down Jordan, 70-60, to capture the gold medal in the 19th Asian Games before a big crowd at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center on Friday.

Brownlee, the hero in Gilas’ heart-stopping 84-83 win over Iran in the quarterfinals and 77-76 triumph over host China in the semis, led the way with 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in another memorable all-around performance that enabled the Filipinos to clinch the gold medal for the first time since the legendary Caloy Loyzaga and his team did it in 1962 in Jakarta.

Kouame, the 6-10 naturalized player from Ivory Coast who won three UAAP titles with Ateneo, and Newsome, the 6-2 Filipino-American guard who was cut from the Gilas team which saw action in the FIBA World Cup 2023 in Manila last month, also had their best games of the tournament.

Kouame came off the bench and finished with 14 points. 11 rebounds, five steals and two blocks, while Newsome contributed 13 points, while doing the near-herculean job of hounding Jordan top star Rondae Hollis-Jefferson on defense.

Reigning PBA MVP Scottie Thompson also had a double-digit score with 11 points.

Hollis-Jefferson managed 24 points — the same output he had in Jordan’s lopsided 87-62 victory over the Philippines in group stage — but he was held to a dismal 8-of-20 shooting.

A former NBA player and import of TNT in the PBA, the 28-year-old Hollis-Jefferson also had 12 rebounds, and five assists for Jordan.

As a team, Jordan was limited to a tournament-low 60 points on 26 percent field goal shooting

Except for the 25-point setback to Jordan, the Filipinos won all their matches, including two against two long-time Asian powerhouses, Iran and China.

The victory over China, however, was easily the sweetest.

China had never lost the gold medal in men’s basketball when it was the Asian Games host.

One of their gold medal wins was against the Robert Jaworski-led Philippine team in 1990 Beijing, which was also the last time the Filipinos played for the gold medal.

The last time the Philippines won a medal — a bronze — came exactly 25 years ago in 1998 Bangkok with Cone also as the head coach.

The Philippines finished fourth in 2002 Busan, losing a heartbreaker to South Korea ( 68-69) in the semis and Kazakhstan (66-68) in the battle for the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, host China routed Chinese Taipei, 101-73, to clinch the bronze medal.

Iran crushed Saudi Arabia, 92-60, for fifth place, while South Korea outplayed Japan, 74-55, for seventh place.

The scores:

Philippines (70) – Brownlee 20, Kouame 14, Newsome 13, Thompson 11, Oftana 5, Aguilar 3, Alas 2, Perez 2.
Jordan (60) – Hollis-Jefferson 24, Mustafa 13, Al Dwairi 8, Alhamarsheh 6, Bohannon 4, Bzai 3, Hussein 2.
Quarterscores: 17-12, 31-31, 51-41, 70-60.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya