Gilas Pilipinas is officially out of contention for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
The Nationals will settle for a Top 8 finish after they fell short against Australia in their quarterfinals faceoff, 84-60, on Wednesday evening, August 13, at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Kevin Quiambao was the Philippines’ best player, putting up a tied-game-high of 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from long range, and this was on top of his four rebounds, all while coming off the bench.
“We really liked our time together. I like the way we play, I like the togetherness, they are all easy to coach, but I didn’t like our performance tonight,” said Tim Cone after the contest.
“I didn’t think we stepped up as much as we wanted to.”
Dwight Ramos remained consistent, delivering 15 markers, seven boards, two assists, and a steal, while AJ Edu manned the paint with an eight-point, eight-rebound game with three assists.
But Justin Brownlee was limited by Australia’s defense to 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting.
These numbers were not enough as the loss dashed Gilas’ goal of bringing home gold.
Nonetheless, it was still an improvement from their 2022 campaign wherein they finished in ninth place.
“The Australian athleticism and length, even though you see it on video, you realize that they are superior,” Cone admitted.
“We just had a hard time staying in front of them and challenging their threes, so they got up their shots quickly.”
“We were trying to keep it at a slower pace, but we didn’t have the discipline to do that,” he added.
Gilas now turns its focus to the 2027 World Cup qualifiers later this year, which start in November.
The Nationals will face Guam in back-to-back games.
The first meeting will be on November 28 on the opponents’ home court, while the second match on December 1 is to be played in the Philippines.
Against Australia, Gilas started off slow and allowed the Boomers to drain seven three-pointers in the first period alone. They fell behind 29-17 after the opening frame.
Carl Tamayo, Ramos and Quiambao opened the second quarter on a promising note, cutting the Philippines’ deficit to 12, 31-19, but Australia then went inside the paint after they missed four straight three-pointers.
The Aussies imposed their height advantage over the Nationals from that point on, eventually leading by 26 even with Gilas performing better in the third frame, and that was all the defending champs needed to advance into the semifinals and break the hearts of the Filipino crowd in Jeddah.
Owen Foxwell and Jaylin Galloway led the Boomers with 17 and 15 points, respectively, Jack McVeigh scored 12 markers with four boards and two dimes, while Xavier Cooks and Will Magnay both finished with 15. (ABS-CBN News)