By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas bowed out of contention in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup after a tough 84-60 loss to defending champion Australia in the quarterfinals at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Aug. 13.
The Nationals simply found little answers to the scintillating shooting from the Boomers, who nailed their first seven baskets from three-point territory to set the tone for the wire-to-wire to win.
Save for the disastrous first quarter where Gilas found itself trailing 29-10, the Nationals actually kept in step with the Boomers the rest of the way – even outscoring their rivals in the third quarter, 22-21.
The deficit, however, was just too much to overcome for Gilas as Australia, aside from the blistering shooting from deep, also dominated the boards – some of which were offensive rebounds that were translated to timely baskets that stopped Gilas every time it was threatening to make a run.
Much of those hits came from Owen Foxwell, who shared the top scoring honors for the Boomers with Jaylin Galloway with 15 points apiece.
Former NBA player Jack McVeigh was also a torn to the side of Gilas with his 12 points, while Xavier Cooks and Will Magnay had 10 points each.
Kevin Quiambao continued his impressive play, pacing the Filipinos with 17 points.
His five three-pointers were the only thing that was keeping Gilas in the contest especially with Justin Brownlee being limited by the Boomers defense to just 10 points on only seven attempts from the field.
Dwight Ramos tried to pick up the scoring 15 points, on top of his seven rebounds while AJ Edu added eight points and eight rebounds but their efforts, likewise, went down the drain as the Boomers lead never got below 16 after they established a 48-28 advantage at the break.
With the loss, not only that Gilas 51-year drought against Australia will continue but also its 40-year quest for an elusive Asia Cup title.
At the very least, Gilas had bested its placing from the last edition where it ended up ninth. The Nationals are assured of a top 8 finish in the continental meet although they have now failed to advance to the Final Four in three-straight editions after back-to-back Finals appearance in 2013 and 2015
