GILAS Pilipinas suffered its first defeat in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers, bowing to Chinese Taipei, 91-84, in a fiercely fought away game on Thursday night at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
Justin Brownlee had 39 points behind a fiery 8-of-11 clip on threes but couldn’t rescue Gilas after it fell behind by 13 points early as the Philippines suffered its first defeat to Chinese Taipei since the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge in Tehran, Iran.
Prior to that, Chinese Taipei's previous win over Philippines was at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in Manila where Gilas bounced back to finish runner-up to Iran - and seal a return to the World Cup in Seville, Spain in 2014.
Chun Hsiang Lu scored 18 points including a three pointer with 47.1 seconds left to make it an 89-84 lead - the dagger shot that lifted the hosts to their second win in five games and, more importantly, third place in Group B.
The third placers in each of the six groups will advance to a qualifying tournament for the four remaining tickets in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in August.
READ Gilas finishes half strong to stay in step with Chinese Taipei
Brownlee nailed three threes in a 15-2 run that enabled Gilas to grab an 80-79 lead. But the upperhand changed hands quickly as Chinese Taipei responded with five straight points including a follow-up dunk by naturalized player Brandon Gilbeck, 86-82.
Former naturalized player-now-local Mohammad Al Bachir Gadiaga and Lin Ting-Chien set the tone for Chinese Taipei in the first half to end with 21 points apiece. Gadiaga and Lin went a combined 7-of-18 from three-point land.
In total, Chinese Taipei hit 15 threes, including four from Lu.
Gilbeck had eight points, eight rebounds, and five blocks, serving as an interior presence for Chinese Taipei with Sotto out.
Dwight Ramos had 15 points and five rebounds, while AJ Edu had 10 points and six assists for Gilas, which will now fly to Auckland to face New Zealand on Sunday to close the Asia Cup qualifiers.
The scores:
Chinese Taipei 91 – Lin 21, Gadiaga 21, Lu 18, Ma 14, Gilbeck 8, Chen 5, Gao 2, Tseng 2, Liu 0, Chou 0, Lan 0.
Philippines 84 – Brownlee 39, Ramos 15, Edu 10, Fajardo 9, Newsome 7, Thompson 4, Perez 0, Oftana 0, Tamayo 0.
Quarters: 22-20; 47-45; 71-61; 91-84.
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