Gilas begins Asia Cup bid on wrong foot, drops opener vs Chinese Taipei
At A Glance
- Gilas Pilipinas was off to a rough start in its 2025 FIBA Asia campaign, dropping a 95-87 decision against Chinese Taipei in its opening game at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the wee hours of Wednesday, Aug. 6.
(FIBA)
Gilas Pilipinas was off to a rough start in its 2025 FIBA Asia campaign, dropping a 95-87 decision against Chinese Taipei in its opening game at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the wee hours of Wednesday, Aug. 6.
A lethargic start that saw the Filipinos trail by as many as 17 points in the opening frame spelled doom for Gilas as they found little answers to the hot-shooting Taiwanese led by the 34 big points from Ying-Chun Chen.
Save from a 2-0 lead for Gilas in the opening minutes of the contests, it was practically all Chinese Taipei as Chen typified the impressive outside shooting from the Taiwanese, drilling six of the team's 12 triples against the Nationals' only eight.
Justin Brownlee actually tried to keep Gilas afloat, firing 11 of his 19 points in that disastrous first quarter but Gilas, despite repeated rallies, was never able to recover.
Things even turned from bad to worse when Gilas head coach Tim Cone was forced to sit Brownlee out for the majority of the third quarter due to four fouls. He eventually fouled out of the contest at the 4:29 mark of the final frame, finishing with seven rebounds and two assists to his name.
In contrast, Chinese Taipei's naturalized player Brandon Gilbeck also had a solid outing despite being saddled with foul trouble, putting up 16 points, nine rebounds and a block while Ting-Cheng Lin and Robert Hinton had 14 each.
Scottie Thompson, Dwight Ramos and Kevin Quiambao did their best to pump life to Gilas in the second half but Chinese Taipei simply had answers to every run the Filipinos had.
Quiambao, whose tough step-back triple pulled Gilas within six, 74-80, with 4:49 left, scored all of his 17 points in the final frame. Ramos, limited to two points in the first half, also came alive with 16 laced with six assists and four rebounds.
Thompson also chipped in 16 for Gilas, which led the rebounding department, 48-24, but failed to capitalize after also committing an eye-popping 16 turnovers, generating 18 turnover points for the run-and-gun Chinese Taipei.