Gilas Pilipinas stumbled to Chinese Taipei for their first loss after five matches in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.
Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone tipped his hat to their tormentor, Chinese Taipei, when they crossed paths anew in Window 3 of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium Thursday, Feb. 20.
While their first meeting was a blowout for Gilas, 106-53, in the first window last year in Manila, it was nowhere near that in their rematch as the Nationals fell behind by 13 points early and eventually fell short in their comeback attempt to settle for an 84-91 loss.
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That was the first setback for the Filipino dribblers in five matches in the qualifiers.
Gilas did try to turn things around behind Justin Brownlee, who churned out 39 points as he rallied the team and allowed them to gain the upperhand twice in the second half, the last at 79-80 on his triple with 3:56 to go.
Chris Newsome followed that up with a jumper for the Nationals to keep their precarious lead at 81-82, but it was still not enough as the Taiwanese kept hitting their shots from deep to close out the match on a 10-2 tear.
"I thought the Chinese Taipei team was very impressive. We made a couple of runs out of them. We were hoping they would crack but they never did," said Cone in the post-game presser.
"They kept their composure. They kept making big shots. Very impressive win by them. They were well-deserving [of the win]."
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The Nationals fell to a 22-35 hole with just a little over three minutes into the second period as Mohammad Al Bachir Gadiaga fired ten straight points to open the frame.
Dwight Ramos then came to Gilas' rescue, dropping 10 points to enable the squad to close in at 45-47 at the break.
Brownlee flung a triple to give the Filipinos a slim 50-51 advantage at the 8:50 mark of the third quarter. But Gadiaga, Ting-Chien Lin and Brandon Gilbeck quickly restored order for Chinese Taipei, 59-51.
Chun Hsiang Lu then took over, with his back-to-back treys restoring a double-digit lead for the Taiwanese, who are enjoying the support of the home crowd this time around.
Brownlee refused to give up for Gilas, unloading 11 of the team's 15 points in a four-minute span that helped them trim a 12-point gap to just a point, 79-80.
But Lin and Lu continued their sharpshooting from three-point range even as Gilbeck also poured four points, with his slam icing the match.
June Mar Fajardo scores just nine points in Gilas Pilipinas' match against Chinese Taipei in the third window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers Thursday, Feb. 20. | Photo (c) FIBA
Lin and Gadiaga combined for seven triples as they each produced 21 points to share topscoring honors.
Lin also churned out seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block.
Lu had four threes in his 18 points.
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Brownlee laced his point-production with six rebounds, eight assists and a steal.
Ramos put in 15 points while AJ Edu, 10.
Gilas, which is already qualified for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Saudi Arabia, will next tangle with New Zealand on Sunday, Feb. 23.
The Filipinos will look to score a repeat of their historic first win over the Tall Blacks, 93-89, in the second window last November in their 10 a.m. encounter.