MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas lost steam in the endgame to suffer a 91-84 defeat to Chinese Taipei in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers on Thursday night at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taiwan.
The Philippine men’s basketball team were already ahead at 82-81 following a conversion by Chris Newsome, but Chinese Taipei responded with a triple from Ting-Chien Lin and an inside hit from Brandon Gilbeck for an 86-82 lead.
Gilas Pilipinas managed to cut the deficit to 84-86 following an inside conversion from Ariel John Edu and had a chance to tie the score but Justin Brownlee missed on a short jumper.
Chinese Taipei made Gilas Pilipinas pay for Brownlee’s miscue as Chun Hsiang Lin converted a three-pointer with 49 seconds left to increase their lead to 89-84 before Gilbeck sealed the win with a two-handed dunk.
Lin led the way for Chinese Taipei with 21 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, while Mohammad Al Bachir Gadiaga added 21 markers, including four three-point baskets.
Chun Hsiang Lu also made his presence felt with 18 points, with four three-point conversions, and Chien-Hao Ma had 14 for Chinese Taipei, which defeated Gilas Pilipinas for the first time since 2013.
Brownlee paced Gilas Pilipinas with 39 points, with eight outside conversions, to go with eight assists and six rebounds as they suffered their first defeat in the qualification tournament.
Dwight Ramos contributed 15 points, five rebounds, and two steals, while Edu ended with 10 points, six rebounds, and two assists for Gilas, which is already qualified to the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup regardless of the outcome of the February window.
“No one feels worse about this devastating loss than I do, and I take full ownership of it,” said Gilas head coach Tim Cone. “We knew they were going to be much improved from the last time we played them, but they were even better than we thought. That’s on me. No doubt, I should have prepared us better.”
Gilas Pilipinas will attempt to bounce back on Sunday morning (10 a.m.) against New Zealand at the Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand./PN
BOX SCORE:
CHINESE TAIPEI 91 – Lin 21, Gadiaga 21, Lu 18, Ma 14, Gilbeck 8, Chen 5, Gao 2, Tseng 2, Liu 0, Chou 0, Lan 0.
PHILIPPINES 84 – Brownlee 39, Ramos 15, Edu 10, Fajardo 9, Newsome 7, Thompson 4, Oftana 0, Perez 0, Tamayo 0.
Quarterscores: 22-20, 47-45, 71-61, 91-84.
