Gilas Pilipinas is keeping its finger crossed after forward Carl Tamayo went down with a sprained ankle injury in its pulsating 82-81 escape against Jordan to open the second round of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

Tamayo went down with the injury after stepping on the foot of one of the Jordanian defenders at the 7:58 mark of the third quarter.

The 6-foot-8 big man grimaced in pain before picking himself up and walking straight toward Gilas bench.

He never returned to the game.

The injury proved to be the only dampener to the dramatic Gilas win which featured the late-game heroics of CJ Perez, Kevin Quiambao and Kai Sotto. 

Tamayo, likewise, was also having a game for himself, scoring eight points, including a buzzer-beating trey at the half, before going down with the injury.

Gilas head coach Tim Cone said the team will evaluate the injury of Tamayo before Sunday's game against Iran.

“Right now, he can walk. But beyond that, it’s swollen. It’s a sprained ankle,” said Cone during the post-game press conference. “We’ll give him the treatment tonight, and tomorrow and we’ll see how he is at that point.”

But in the event that the 25-year-old won’t be available for the game against Team Melli, Cone is open to the idea of tapping the services of the reserves in Justin Arana and RJ Abarrientos, who were the final cuts of the lineup.

“In the meantime, we still have RJ and Justin on the list,” he said. “Those two guys could fill in for Carl, if necessary. Hopefully, it won’t be necessary.”