GILAS Pilipinas came up short in a brave second-half comeback as New Zealand escaped with a 94-86 win on Friday morning in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Gilas mounted a Justin Brownlee-led comeback from 18 points down that cut the lead to three points, but Taylor Britt doused the comeback with back-to-back baskets that put the Tall Blacks back in control, 89-82, in the endgame.
GILAS DILEMMA: early exit or a possible quarterfinal vs Australia
With a second successive loss, Gilas, which lost to Chinese-Taipei on opening day, must win in its final game of the group stage against fellow winless side Iraq to clinch a spot in the qualification to the quarterfinal match among the group third-placers.
Brownlee came away with a game-high 37 points including a three that sliced New Zealand’s gap to 85-82 with 3:48 left, but that was immediately answered by Britt, who finished with 19 points for the Tall Blacks.
Jordan Ngatai finished with 22 points on a perfect 5-for-5 clip on threes as the Kiwis stayed unbeaten in two matches. The Tall Blacks will slug it out with fellow unbeaten Group D side Chinese-Taipei on Saturday for an outright place in the quarterfinals.
As a team, the Tall Blacks made 50 percent of their three-point shots (13-of-26) and outrebounded the Filipinos, 41-33.
Brownlee shot 12-of-17 from the field, draining seven of his 12 three-point attempts in the game. Dwight Ramos supported Brownlee in Gilas’ comeback bid with 19 points on an 8-of-17 clip.
June Mar Fajardo had much better numbers on Thursday compared to his two-point, three-turnover outing against Chinese Taipei. The eight-time PBA MVP had 11 points and four rebounds after starting alongside AJ Edu.
The Philippines was forced to play catch-up once again after it trailed, 55-37, late in the second quarter. Gilas was able to slice the gap to six points after outscoring New Zealand in the third period, 27-19.
As it turned out, the sizable lead in the first half where New Zealand shot 9-of-15 from three-point range proved to be the difference.
The scores:
New Zealand 94 – Ngatai 22, Britt 19, Cameron 12, King 11, Darling 8, Smith-Milner 8, Gold 6, Davison 5, Andrew 3, Murray 0.
Philippines 86 – Brownlee 37, Ramos 19, Fajardo 11, Newsome 8, Quiambao 5, Tamayo 4, Thompson 2, Oftana 0, Edu 0.
Quarters: 23-18; 55-41; 74-68; 94-86.
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