GILAS Pilipinas was sent packing at the quarterfinal stage of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 by a hot-shooting Australia side, 84-60, on Wednesday at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Nationals were immediately left on the back foot by a blazing start of seven first-quarter three-pointers by the Boomers, most of which came from Jaylin Galloway and Jack McVeigh as they raced to a 29-12 spread.
READ Gilas with a mountain to climb as Australia opens 20-point halftime lead
The world's No. 7 ranked side also succeeded in keeping Gilas leading scorer Justin Brownlee from finding any rhythm offensively and advanced to the semifinals where the Boomers will be facing either Iran or Chinese Taipei.
The Philippines more or less kept in step with the Aussies in the next three quarters as Kevin Quiambao found his mark on offense, but the big early deficit from that first-quarter explosion proved just too difficult to overcome.
With the loss, the Philippines failed to reach the semifinals of the FIBA Asia Cup for the third straight time after back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2013 in Manila and 2015 in Changsha, China.
Still, Gilas improved on its ninth-place finish from the 2022 edition in Jakarta.
In all, the Philippines wound up with two victories in five games including the memorable knockout game against Saudi Arabia where Brownlee forced overtime with a three-pointer on their way to a 95-88 victory last Tuesday.
Galloway finished with 15 points on 4-of-6 from threes, while Owen Foxwell also had 15 points while making 3-of-6 from downtown for the Boomers, who led by as many as 26 points, 61-35, in the third quarter.
McVeigh also did the damage by contributing 12 points on 2-of-6 shooting from threes, with all of his makes coming in the opening period.
Gilas was also badly outrebounded, 57-36, with Jack White and Xavier Cooks grabbing eight and seven rebounds respectively. The Aussies made 53 percent of their three-point shots in the first quarter - and 36% (11-of-30) for the game.
In contrast, Gilas made just 8 of 33 shots from three-point land.
Quiambao had 17 points and shot 5-of-8 from beyond the three-point arc as Gilas showed signs of life in the third quarter after outscoring Australia, 22-21.
Brownlee struggled to get his touches amid the leech-like defense of Australia against him, scoring only 10 points and making 1-of-3 threes in the ballgame. He was limited to 11 attempts all game long.
Gilas played minus Calvin Oftana and Cjay Perez due to ankle sprains sustained in previous games.
The scores:
Australia 84 – Galloway 15, Foxwell 15, McVeigh 12, Cooks 10, Magnay 10, White 8, Wessels 6, Hickey 5, Bannan 2, Daniels 1, Smith 0, Henshall 0.
Philippines 60 – Quiambao 17, Ramos 15, Brownlee 10, Edu 8, Thompson 5, Aguilar 2, Tamayo 2, Malonzo 1, Newsome 0, Fajardo 0.
Quarters: 29-12; 48-28; 69-50; 84-60.
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