MR. GAMECHANGER: Brownlee comes to Gilas’ rescue in Qatar win

Gilas Pilipinas roared back from 11 points down with a strong fourth quarter surge to pull off a thrilling 74-71 win over host Qatar in the 2nd Doha Invitational Cup early Saturday (Manila time).

Naturalized player Justine Brownlee slammed the go-ahead rim-rattler with two and a half minutes left in the game to energize Gilas’ closing 9-2 rally and complete a come-from-behind victory for a rousing start in the four-nation tilt.

Brownlee, AJ Edu and Dwight Ramos fueled the Filipinos’ 23-11 outworking of the Qataris in the final canto of the short friendlies serving as part of Gilas’ preparation for the third window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers firing off late this month.

Gilas had little rest before playing Lebanon late Saturday (Manila time).

The Lebanese, sans star players Wael Arakji and Omari Spellman, bowed to Egypt, 70-82, to open their campaign.

Contrary to what head coach Tim Cone initially planned for load management on key players, Brownlee still spent almost 37 minutes on the floor, scoring nine of his 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Ramos went 5-of-10 from the field to lead Gilas with 15 points. He also had two rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.

Big man June Mar Fajardo, one of the players expected to see limited minutes, stayed in the game for almost 21 minutes to score 12 points and pulled seven boards.

Scottie Thompson finished with 10 points, which he capped with a pair of insurance charities in the last 16 seconds of the match, that forced Qatar to rush a three-pointer that rimmed out in the final play.

Six-foot-10 Edu played his first game under Cone, contributing six points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Gilas trailed 60-49 with 45 seconds left in the third quarter after a split from the foul line. Qatar entered the final canto with a 60-51 advantage.

Kevin Quiambao opened the payoff period with a triple as Gilas got its second wind to the delight of a packed Filipino crowd inside the QU Sports and Events Complex.

Gilas slowly dismantled Qatar’s lead before overtaking the host team with a Brownlee slamdunk off an Edu assist.

Ramos scored on a layup to push Gilas’ lead to three, 72-69, before naturalized player Tyler Harris stopped Qatar’s bleeding with a basket with just 20 ticks left. Thompson was brought on the line for two foul shots to hike the visiting squad’s advantage back to three.

Mike Lewis II missed a potential game-tying three in Qatar’s last possession as Brownlee grabbed the defensive rebound as time expired.

Harris had 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting while Lewis II scored 15 for Qatar.

Gilas wraps up its participation against Egypt at 1:30 a.m. on 17 February (Manila time).

The Filipinos will fly back to Manila on 18 February before taking on host Chinese-Taipei on 20 February to open the third window. Gilas will then travel to New Zealand to face the Tall Blacks on 23 February.

Gilas is through to the FIBA Asia Cup main draw in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 5 to 17 August after sweeping the first two windows for a 4-0 win-loss record in Group B.

The scores:

First Game

EGYPT (82) — Mohamed 26, Aboushousha 17, Oraby 11, Mahmoud 9, Shehata 6, A. Zahran 5, Abdellatif 5, Khalaf 2, Nasr 1, Zahran 0, Elmekawi 0, Abdelgawad 0.

LEBANON (70) — Majok 17, Zeinoun 12, Khoueiry 10, Hadidian 10, Ezzedine 9, Mansour 7, Mezher 3, Alkhoury 2, Moussa 0, Samaha 0, Rtail 0, Makhlouf 0.

Quarters: 23-15; 47-37: 64-56; 82-70.

Second Game

GILAS PILIPINAS (74) — Ramos 15, Fajardo 12, Brownlee 10, Thompson 10, Quiambao 7, Edu 6, Perez 6, Oftana 3, Tamayo 3, Newsome 2.

QATAR (71) — Harris 17, Lewis 15, Ndao 9, Fouda 9, Seydou 9, Abbsher 7, Saad 3, Magassa 2, Dieng 0, Grantham 0, Avdic 0.

Quarters: 18-20, 38-40, 51-50, 74-71.