Chinese-Taipei stuns Gilas in successful homestand

Gilas Pilipinas suffered an 84-91 shock loss to host Chinese-Taipei that snapped its four-game winning streak in a dampener of a start in the third window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers Thursday night at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.

Fielding a revamped lineup from the one Gilas pummeled by 53 points last year in the opening window, the Taiwanese ran over the error-plagued and sour-shooting Filipinos for their second win in five games in Group B to stay alive in the chase for a spot the main draw in August.

Chinese-Taipei weathered Gilas’ fourth quarter storm led by naturalized player Justin Brownlee, who had a game-high 39 points, as Chun Hsiang Lu connected a dagger triple followed by a putback slamdunk by naturalized Taiwanese center Brandon Gilbeck for a 91-84 advantage with 17 seconds remaining in the game.         

Mohammad Gadiaga and Ting-Chien Lin punished Gilas’ defense with 21 points each as Chinese-Taipei scored its first win over the Filipinos since the first round of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship held in Manila.      

Lu had 18 markers while Chien-Hao Ma scored 14 for Chinese-Taipei, who forced Gilas to commit 17 turnovers while outmuscling the visiting team, 28-16, in inside points. Seven-footer Gilbeck had eight points, eight boards and five blocks.

Down by 10 points in the fourth Gilas behind Brownlee rallied to close in by one point a couple of times but Chinese-Taipei responded each time. AJ Edu pulled Gilas to within two, 84-86, hitting a wing jumper with 2:16 left only for Chinese-Taipei to score five straight points to complete the escape.

Chinese-Taipei reestablished control in the third quarter after Gilas went ahead, 51-50, with a telling run to enter the payoff period with a 71-61 lead.  

The Taiwanese surged ahead with a scorching 10-0 second quarter start to turn a two-point lead at the end of the opening period into a 32-20 advantage with 7:49 left off a Gadiaga basket.

With Gilas struggling with turnovers, Chinese-Taipei built its biggest gap, 35-22, after Chen-Hiao Ma converted all three of his charities with 6:41 remaining in the opening half.

Gilas answered back with a late fightback punctuated by Dwight Ramos’ two-handed dunk and a trey to cut Chinese-Taipei’s advantage to 47-45 entering the halftime break.  

Brownlee had eight assists and six rebounds but also turned the ball over five times for Gilas, which came off back-to-back losses in a goodwill tournament in Doha, Qatar over the weekend.

Ramos added 15 points and Edu had 10 as the only other Gilas players in double figures.  

Gilas kept its hold of the top spot tied with New Zealand with identical 4-1 cards. Both teams are through to the main tournament in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia slated 5 to 17 August.

The Filipinos will face the Tall Blacks, who destroyed eliminated Hong Kong, 92-51, Thursday, in a much-anticipated rematch in Auckland on Sunday to decide which team will end up as top seed in Group B.

Chinese-Taipei will visit winless Hong Kong on Sunday to prime up for the last qualifying tournament reserved for third placed teams in each of the six groups for the remaining Asia Cup berths.