‘THEY’RE ALIVE!’

Gilas Pilipinas unleashed a third-quarter storm to repulse pesky Iraq, 66-57, for its only win in Group D and secured a spot in a playoff for a quarterfinals seat in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup on Saturday afternoon (Manila time) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Dwight Ramos energized Gilas and the large crowd of Filipinos inside the King Abdullah Sports City with his offensive explosion in the third period that gave the Nationals enough separation to snap a two-game skid.

“It was a great effort and you know the crowd was loud in the third quarter and that’s where we’re able to take the lead,” Ramos said after taking over Gilas’ offense with 21 points on 7-of-14 field goal shooting.

The Philippines finished the group stage in third place with a 1-2 win-loss slate and sent the Iraqis home winless.

Gilas, which bounced back from heartbreaking setbacks to Chinese Taipei and New Zealand, will face either Saudi Arabia or Jordan in the knockout qualifying round on Monday for the Last 8 against three-peat-seeking Australia.

Ramos was the lone Gilas player in double-figure scoring with naturalized player Justin Brownlee struggling from the field. He added five rebounds, one steal and one assist.

Brownlee, who averaged 28 points per game, went cold with just eight points on 3-of-12 field goal shooting but made up for his missing offense with seven boards, four assists and three steals in 33 minutes of action.

AJ Edu added nine points with seven boards, three steals and two blocks while June Mar Fajardo and Carl Tamayo got six points each for Gilas, which started off sluggish just like in its first two games.

“Well, you know, it was a tough one because both teams were really desperate for a win because we were both 0-2 and both looking to advance,” Gilas head coach Tim Cone said.

“So there was a lot of desperation in that basketball game,” he added.

“I thought both teams came out and played tremendously hard. You know, they hit some shots early in the game and jumped out on us and certainly worried us.”

Ramos sparked Gilas’ strong third quarter, scoring 10 points including back-to-back triples in a telling 11-0 run to give the Filipinos a 44-35 advantage after trailing by two at the start of the second half.

Brownlee gave Gilas its biggest lead at 55-37 with 43 second left in the third off a layup.

Gilas poured 22 points in the third quarter while punishing the Iraqis with a tightened defensive noose for a dry seven-point output in the canto.

Iraq, however, gave Gilas a scare with a fourth quarter uprising that got them within seven, 57-50, after Thulfiqar Hammoodi nailed a triple with 6:39 left.

Calvin Oftana, who went down with a sprained right ankle with over three minutes left in the game, Brownlee and Ramos restored order in a 7-0 counterattack to give Gilas a 14-point advantage with two minutes remaining.

Gilas and the Iraqis engaged in a tense tug-of-war in a dogfight of a first half.

Ramos tied the game at 33 heading into the intermission with a three-pointer in the last 30 seconds of the second period.

Iraq was in control early and even led by as many as six, with Brownlee struggling on offense.

Brownlee went 0-of-6 from the field and only scored his first point of the game with a split from the foul line with 1:30 left in the opening half.

The Iraqis took an 18-12 advantage in a low-scoring opening period. Iraq shot 6-of-13 from the three-point area in the first 20 minutes of the ballgame.

Ali Ismael scored 10 while burying all three of his treys for Iraq.

Ismael and Hammoodi led Iraq with 13 points each, Demario Mayfield added 12 while big man Ihab Al-Zuhairi got eight points and 10 rebounds.