GILAS Pilipinas finished in seventh place to end its campaign in the 31st FIBA Asia Cup.
The Filipinos posted a 2-3 (win-loss) record in the continental tournament in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, their title bid finally going up in smoke after running through two-time defending champion Australia in the quarterfinals, 84-60.
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The finish was an improvement to the ninth place finish of the Philippines during the 2022 edition of the meet in Jakarta, Indonesia where it failed to make the quarterfinals.
Still, it wasn’t enough to end the country’s 40-year title drought since last winning the championship in 1985 behind the Northern Consolidated national team.
The last time Gilas Pilipinas had a podium finish in the now quadrennial meet came in 2015 in Changsha, China, when it lost to the host team in the gold medal match.
The podium finish among Iran, China, New Zealand, and two-time defending champion Australia will be determined by the end of the meet on Monday.
In the semifinals, its China vs. New Zealand and Australia against Iran.
Chinese Taipei, whose 95-87 stunner of the Philippines on opening day got Gilas Pilipinas off to a wrong foot, placed no. 5 for its best finish in a decade or since finishing at no. 4 when the Philippines hosted the meet in 2013.
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The Taiwanese were actually poised to make the semifinals when the led Iran by 21 points in the first half, only to collapse late in the game and allowed Team Melli to snatch a 78-75 win.
South Korea meanwhile, remained at sixth place, the same finish it had in Jakarta.
The Philippines though finished just above Lebanon, which placed eighth after losing a heartbreaker against New Zealand, 90-86, as the Cedars blew a 22-point lead in the second quarter.
The West Asia country incidentally, was a strong runner up to Australia three years ago in Indonesia, losing a close one, 75-73.
As per FIBA ruling, the placings were determined through the point differential after the group stage.
In this case, the Philippines was -7 in Group D, while Lebanon was -20 in Group A.
Both teams finished the tournament with identical 2-3 records, although point differential in the qualification and quarterfinals were no longer considered.
Chinese Taipei and South Korea were both tied at 3-2, but the former was -5 in Group D and the latter a -11 in Group A.
Japan and Saudi also ended up with similar 2-2 records, but Akatsaki were +62 for no. 9, while the Falcons were +24 for 10th place.
Jordan (-19) outranked Guam (-55) at no. 11, though Guam made history in its first ever Asia Cup appearance when it registered its first ever win at the expense of Syria, 83-72, during the group stage.
The rest of the standings saw Qatar (-46) finished at no. 13, followed by Iraq (-58), India (-63), and Syria (-79)..
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