The Jordanians lit up from beyond the arc early and went on to avenge their previous loss to Gilas.
The last time Gilas Pilipinas and Jordan met, the latter was a woeful 3-of-25 from the three-point area.
But that was not the case on Monday night.
Jordan made up for what it lacked in their fifth window affair and came out of the gates firing before the Filipino crowd at the Philippine Arena.
Naturalized player Dar Tucker and Sami Bzai caught fire early on, firing two three-pointers each. The others followed suit and the team ended up making 12 from that distance at halftime to take a 60-41 lead.
Gilas tried to turn things around after the break, but the Jordanians held on for a thrilling 91-90 victory to wrap up the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Tucker said it all boiled down to “focus.”
“We came in we knew that they beat us at home. We knew what was the problem, the reason why they beat us,” he said. “Not to take anything away from them, they’re a very good team. I got nothing but respect for every player on that team. We just concentrated more and tried to focus more on shooting. That's what we did and were successful at it.”
Asked how they were able to weather the storm that were Justin Brownlee and Gilas, he said a similar refrain.
“Just focus. Coach was preaching it to us the whole time. Even before the game he’s preaching just stay focused whether we down or up. Just stay focused and that's what we did. But like I said I got nothing but respect for the Philippines team. They’re a good team if you know what I mean,” he said.
Ever since his team set foot on Philippine soil, Tucker said he received nothing but love from its people.
Tucker, who was seen playing with the crowd several times during the match, loved the Philippines so much he said he wanted to play here.
“If anybody, coaches or anything, if you wanna pick me up, next year, I’m free,” he added with a hearty laugh.
“But I love it. This is a great atmosphere. I would love to play here. That's just me. I love to please the fans because you never know who's out there. If somebody out there has never seen me before and I want them to have a great impression.”
And it appears he made quite an impression all right. Whether that leads to a stint here in Philippines remains to be seen.