NEW Zealand came out firing early at home to take a 53-33 halftime lead over Gilas Pilipinas on Sunday in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers at the Spark Arena in Auckland.
The Tall Blacks shot 10-of-19 from threes in the first half, including 6-of-9 in the opening quarter to grab a sizeable lead over the Filipinos in their sixth and final game of the qualifiers.
The winner of the match will grab first place in Group B.
Tohi Smith-Milner set the tone for the Kiwis from the outside, scoring 14 points while shooting 4-of-6 from threes.
Jordan Ngatai also made a pair of threes to end up with 11 points for New Zealand, which shot 59 percent from the field.
Gilas got to get going
Gilas, for their part, struggled to find the mark from deep, converting just 2-of-11 from threes with the halftime score serving as the biggest lead of the first half.
Justin Brownlee had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, while June Mar Fajardo had seven points, but the Philippines overall only hit 38-percent from the field.
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