Filipinos, Aussies lock horns anew

Game today:

(King Abdullah Sports City)

7 p.m. — Philippines vs Australia

It’s inevitable.

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone surrenders to the fact that the Philippines will cross paths with mighty Australia along the way in its bid to capture the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup title in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

It will come early in the playoffs, though, with the Filipinos heading into a collision course with the three-peat-seeking Aussies today in the knockout quarterfinal at the King Abdullah Sports City.

“We know that they are pretty much the No. 1 seed in the tournament, and for us to beat them is going to be an upset,” Cone said as Gilas gears up for another brutal battle at 7 p.m. (Manila time).

While the world No. 7-ranked Australia cruised to an outright Last Eight seat, Gilas had to go through the backdoor.

Naturalized player Justin Brownlee’s late three-pointer in regulation forced an overtime before young guns Kevin Quiambao, Dwight Ramos and AJ Edu took over in the extension to boot out host Saudi Arabia, 95-88, in the quarters qualification match early Tuesday (Manila time).

Cone could only hope that the momentum Gilas built after beating Iraq at the end of the group stage and outlasting the Saudis would be enough to score what could be the tournament’s biggest upset.

“But, you know, winning this game tonight, beating Iraq, coming in, winning this game the way we did tonight has supplied us with some momentum,” Cone said.

“So, hopefully, we can carry that against Australia.”

But beating the Aussies is easier said than done.

In the last five meetings between the two teams, Gilas won only once. And it was back in the classification round of the 1978 World Championship in Puerto Rico when the Filipinos escaped with a 101-100 squeaker behind Bogs Adornado’s 20-point outing.

The Australians last bested Gilas in a FIBA World Cup qualifying game on 2 July 2018 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan marred by a controversial free-for-all melee.

Australia has yet to drop a game after sweeping Group A with blowouts over South Korea, Lebanon and Qatar.

One man Gilas has to be wary of on the Aussie side is Jaylin Galloway, who is averaging 18 points with almost 73 percent efficiency from the outside. William Hickey will be a marked man as well after averaging 10 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.

The Filipinos had just one day to prepare and recover before taking on the well-rested Australians.

“Well, we’re enthused that we have a day to prepare and a day for Justin to rest and Dwight (Ramos) and some of the guys. So that’s going to help out a lot,” Cone said.

But Gilas could be down to just 10 men after CJ Perez suffered a right ankle sprain midway into the second quarter of the game against Saudi Arabia. Perez was wheeled off the court and didn’t return to the game.

“We don’t know the extent of it, but it didn’t look good. I’m not going to pretend to be a doctor and tell you what it is, but it was not a good injury. So our prayers are with him,” Cone said.

Aside from Perez, Gilas is also dealing with forward Calvin Oftana’s ankle sprain, which forced him to sit out the previous outing.

Despite the odds stacked against Gilas, Cone remains hopeful that the team’s bid to snap a four-decade title drought won’t end with the Philippines’ return to the quarterfinals in eight years.

“We didn’t expect to play them this early in the tournament, you know, losing our first two games (against Chinese Taipei and New Zealand). So that’s got us here,” Cone said.

“But we figured that if we’re going to do something special in this tournament, you have to go through Australia at some point. So, you know, it’s here in front of us. We’re going to do our best and get at them.”

Plus, the decorated mentor wants his first national team career meeting against the Aussies to be memorable.

“I’ve never coached against Australia before. This will be my first time. So, I’m excited about it,” the 67-year-old coach said.

If Gilas prevails over Australia, it will take on either the Taiwanese or its 2013 edition gold medal match tormentor Iran.