Perry, Yi Hou and Chun Hong play major role in Malaysia’s win

CAGERS Perry Lim, Wong Yi Hou and Ting Chun Hong marked their SEA Games debut with a rousing performance against Myanmar in front of a sellout crowd at the Maba Stadium.

Perry, 19, and Yi Hou and Chun Hong, both 21, played their part to help Malaysia crush Myanmar 9542 in their opening men’s basketball Group A match yesterday.

It was a far cry from the last time both teams met – at the SouthEast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Championship in May, where Malaysia struggled for a 9671 win.

Yesterday, forward Yi Hou topscored with 21 points while Chun Hong chipped in with 18 points.

Americanborn forward Perry was the standout of the trio as he made huge contributions at both ends of the court with a doubledouble – 12 points and 15 rebounds.

Among the highlights for the 1.95m Perry were several twohanded slam dunks and a spectacular rebound dunk late in the second quarter.

“It panned out exactly how I wanted it to. I really love the crowd and the atmosphere,” he said.

“Besides missing a couple of layups, I thought I did pretty well. The team also did great although we were initially a little nervous.

“But tomorrow’s (today’s) game against Thailand is the most important one. We need to win to move into the semifinals. Hopefully I can keep this form going.”

Malaysia also have defending champions the Philippines in their group.

In Group B, 2015 silver medallists Indonesia powered to an 8973 win over Vietnam while Singapore downed Cambodia 9564.

The Malaysian women also got off to a flying start in a bid to defend their gold medal.

They scored 17 threepointers to outgun Vietnam 8854 in the sevennation roundrobin competition.

Chong Yin Yin top scored with 17 points while Wong Mei Chyn chipped in with 10 points.