Gilas Pilipinas’ June Mar Fajardo and Dwight Ramos, right, look on during a loss to Chinese Taipei in the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup.–FIBA PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–There was no way coach Tim Cone could sugarcoat Gilas Pilipinas’ performance or lack thereof after a 95-87 loss to Chinese-Taipei in the opener of its Fiba Asia Cup campaign in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Gilas was forced to play catch-up from almost the onset as Chinese-Taipei led by 17 in the first quarter, then saw Justin Brownlee deal with foul trouble before getting his fifth in the fourth that eventually hastened the doom for the Filipino squad at King Abdullah Sports City.
READ: Gilas’ Kevin Quiambao a ‘highlight’ Fiba Asia Cup opening loss
“We didn’t play a good one,” Cone lamented in the postgame press conference Tuesday night (Wednesday morning Philippine time). “It’s like we were in panic mode for 40 minutes.”
The Philippines had no answer for the terrific showing of Chinese-Taipei’s veteran guard Chen Ying-Chun, who finished with 34 points after knocking down six three-pointers.
Naturalized player Brandon Gilbeck and Taiwanese-American Robert Hinton also caused trouble for Gilas with their contributions on both ends.
Brownlee scored 19 points before fouling out, but at one point, he was the one carrying the scoring load for Gilas as key cogs like Dwight Ramos, June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez struggled.
READ: Gilas Pilipinas loses to Chinese Taipei in Fiba Asia Cup opener
Ramos eventually got his shooting while Scottie Thompson was active on both ends in trying to mount a rally before Kevin Quiambao caught fire in the fourth after being inserted by Cone despite sitting out the first 20 minutes.
In the end, Gilas paid dearly for its woes and will have to play with much urgency for the next two games in Group D, namely against New Zealand on Thursday and Iraq on Saturday.
“We played on our heels the whole game. Took a lot of ill-advised shots and made a lot of ill-advised fouls,” said Cone.
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