Ramos saves the day

Dwight Ramos proved that Gilas Pilipinas is not just a Justin Brownlee show.

When the Gilas naturalized player went on a rare offensive dry spell, Ramos stepped up and helped save Gilas from humiliation with a performance to remember in an all-important win over Iraq in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup on Saturday afternoon (Manila time) at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The 6-foot-4 combo guard launched the Philippines’ third quarter pull away before eventually beating the gritty Iraqis, 66-57, to end the preliminary round and snap a two-game slide in Group D.

Ramos scored 10 of his match-high 21 points in the third period and kept Gilas in the game in the opening half with Brownlee going cold with just one point.

His back-to-back treys in a telling second half rally fueled Gilas’ 22-7 third quarter output, created a significant separation that went as many as 18 points for the Philippines to secure a spot in a playoff for a quarterfinal seat against either Jordan or host Saudi Arabia.

“We came out (of the halftime break) and rode the hot hand of Dwight over here. And that got us a little bit of a lead,” Gilas head coach Tim Cone said of his ward.

Ramos shot 7-of-14 from the field including three triples while pulling down five rebounds with one steal and one assist in 35 minutes of action.

“I just keep on trying to play. I’m just trying to follow the game plan today,” Ramos said after Gilas’ lone win in three outings in the group stage.

The 26-year-old cager took advantage of Iraq overcommitting its defense on Brownlee for good looks from the outside and chances to attack the basket.

“I always try to play off of JB. All the teams here, if they play the Philippines, all of their focus is on JB,” Ramos said.

“I just take it as an opportunity to use JB’s presence there and just play off of him.”

Gilas bounced back from consecutive losses to Chinese-Taipei and New Zealand.

“We needed that win to give us confidence. We were feeling down a little bit, you know. Last couple of games we’ve been losing,” Ramos said.

“So, this one kind of raises our spirits. And it was tough. I mean, in the beginning they were making their shots, but once we tightened up the defense and played a little bit more under control, I think we were able to stretch the lead there.”