PERTH — On a chilly Monday night at RAC Arena, the scoreboard told one story — a ruthless 92–49 dismantling by a far superior Australian Boomers squad of a visiting Gilas Pilipinas side. But the noise inside the venue told another.
Australia had the homecourt. The Philippines held the beat.
Around 3,000 Filipinos poured into the arena, turning sections of the stands into pockets of Manila: flags waving, voices chanting in unison. It didn’t matter that Gilas was outgunned, outmuscled, and outpaced. The crowd came not for a guaranteed win, but for a guaranteed moment — to show their team that even on foreign soil, they were never alone.
Loudest Roar Belonged to One Man: Dwight Ramos
Every Gilas touch drew cheers, but one name repeatedly detonated through the arena: Dwight Ramos, jersey No. 24.
Whenever Ramos checked in, the Filipino sections erupted. And when he touched the ball, the chants swelled.
"It's pretty much everywhere we go. There's Filipinos working all over the world. And we play in different parts of the world and we just wanted to put out on a good show and represent the country," Ramos said in the post-game press conference.
Forget that he shot a dismal 4 of 16 from the field. At the start of the second period when he scored back-to-back baskets, the arena shook in a way that made even Australian fans turn their heads.
It didn’t matter that the Boomers were cruising, or that the gap widened by every quarter. Ramos played with the same fire he’s known for and trying to put the shackles on Australia’s top gun Tyrese Proctor, who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA.
The crowd responded with the kind of devotion usually reserved for hometown heroes. In many ways, he was like the hometown hero that night. And the RAC Arena rocked like Gilas just wrested the homecourt edge from its host.
In a game where Gilas struggled to find rhythm shooting an anemic 28.1 clip on 18 of 64 shooting from the field, the Filipino community found theirs — loud, proud, and relentless. The players felt it.
"It comes in every game. It feels like a home game just because of them," said Ramos. "It feels really good when we're playing well. But when we're not playing well, you feel disappointed in front of your countrymen."
Even six-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton, who led Australia with 21 points, noticed the atmosphere feels like playing on the road.
"We'd like to play with high energy, we wanted to create the energy to start the game coz we knew the Philippines is gonna have an amazing crowd, but I think we did a pretty good job with that," said Cotton.
The Boomers may have owned the venue, but Gilas brought the noise.
After the game, Gilas fans, who refused to let the night be defined by the scoreboard, stayed on outside the hotel where Gilas stayed in Perth, patiently waiting for the team bus.
Hotel security had to cordon off some of the players as the thick crowd tried to snap photos with their basketball idols from home.
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