KEVIN Quiambao nearly willed Gilas Pilipinas to a come-from-behind victory following his effort in the second half of their game against Chinese Taipei in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025.
Quiambao was the second-leading scorer for the Philippines in its 95-87 loss to Chinese Taipei, scoring 17 points in 16 minutes of action, despite missing the whole first half.
READ: Chinese Taipei shoots down Gilas in stunning FIBA Asia Cup opener
With Gilas down 11, 73-62, to open the fourth, he scored the first five points for his team, and later cut their deficit to 80-74 on a stepback three.
But that was the last stand of the Filipinos with Justin Brownlee, who top-scored for the nationals with 19, fouling out shortly after that KQ basket with still four minutes to play in the match.
“He came out and played with a lot of energy, hit some big shots for us. But (we) still came up short,” said Gilas coach Tim Cone of the back-to-back UAAP MVP, who averaged 8.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in four games during the Asia Cup qualifiers.
Quiambao, who was fresh from a trip to the U.S., trying for a spot in the NBA Summer League, shot 6-of-10 from the field, and made 3 of his 6 shots from the outside, the most by any Philippine player in the game.
The former La Salle star also had three rebounds and two assists in quality minutes for Gilas.
“In terms of the way Kevin played, Kevin played very, very well, and he was the highlight of the team,” said Cone.
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