Gilas stumbles anew in 17-point loss to New Zealand

Gilas Pilipinas absorbed a 70-87 whipping at the hands of New Zealand to close the third window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers with back-to-back losses Sunday at the Spark Arena in Auckland.

The Filipinos dropped to a 4-2 win-loss record to finish the qualifiers as the No. 2 seed in Group B heading into the main draw in August.

Gilas, missing the services of injured 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, was outplayed by the vengeful Tall Blacks right from the get-go as the host led by as many as 28 in the third quarter.

It was Gilas’ second straight defeat after an 84-91 loss to Chinse-Taipei on the road three days ago.

Naturalized player Justin Brownlee was limited to just 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field while Chris Newsome finished with 13 markers for Gilas, which beat the Kiwis, 93-89, last November in the second window.   

The Tall Blacks opened a 65-37 advantage after Reuben Te Rangi connected a three-pointer with 7:07 left in the third period.

Gilas mounted a fourth quarter run and closed in by 11 after Brownlee scored on a layup for a 77-66 count with 6:37 left only for Corey Webster to spark New Zealand’s 8-0 counterattack to restore order.

The Tall Blacks ended their campaign with a 5-1 slate to earn the top seed and a favorable draw in the FIBA Asia Cup main tournament slated from 5 to 17 August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Tohi Smith-Milner paced the Kiwis with 25 points and nine rebounds, Webster had 14 markers while Te Rangi and Jordan Ngatai added 12 and 11 markers, respectively, for New Zealand.