Australia sends Gilas home

It’s the end of the road for Gilas Pilipinas in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.

Three-peat-seeking Australia torched the 10-man Gilas with seven triples in the first quarter and kept a safe distance the rest of the way for a dominating 84-60 quarterfinal victory for a Final Four seat Wednesday night (Manila time) at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Filipinos, despite a gallant stand against the world No. 7-ranked Boomers, didn’t get a chance to get a taste of the lead or even tie the game and went down by as many as 26.

“Australia is one of the top teams in the world. And if we’re gonna be in the game and we gonna have a chance to win, you know, we’re gonna have to prepare more. We have to be sharper, more execution and we can’t be making so many mistakes,” Gilas combo guard Dwight Ramos said.

Young guns Kevin Quiambao and Ramos carried most of the offensive load with naturalized player Justin Brownlee struggling against the sticky defense of Australia, which won five of its last six head-to-head meetings with Gilas.

Quiambao finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 field goal shooting, including five three-pointers, while Ramos got 15 markers and seven rebounds for Gilas, who played sans injured Calvin Oftana (ankle) and CJ Perez (ankle).

Brownlee had 10 points on just 3-of-7 shooting in the field as Australia repeatedly forced him to give up the ball or deny him touches entirely.

Gilas, which won back-to-back games against Iraq at the end of the group stage and host Saudi Arabia in the playoff for a quarters spot, ended its campaign with a 2-3 win-loss record.

Australia, which won all four of its games in the tournament, will face either Iran or Chinese Taipei, in the semis on Saturday.

Gilas outscored the Boomers, 22-21, in the third quarter but it wasn’t enough to spark a last push as the Philippines entered the final period with a 69-50 lead.

Will Magnay gave the Aussies their biggest margin, 61-35, with 6:31 left in the third and replicated it late in the fourth, 84-58, after Harry Wessels’ basket.

Jaylin Galloway nailed 3-of-4 from the three-point area in the first quarter as Australia’s impeccable shooting got Gilas trailing early.

The Aussies entered the halftime break with a comfortable 48-28 advantage.

Australia flexed its supremacy right from the get-go, blasting a 16-4 pull away to establish control.

Brownlee, the hero in Gilas’ overtime win over Saudi Arabia to clinch a quarters berth last Tuesday, struggled under the Boomers’ defense in the opening half with just eight points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field.

The Philippines will meet Australia once again in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers starting in November along with New Zealand and Guam.

Gilas will meet the Boomers on 1 March 2026 and then again on 6 July in the double round robin home-and-away format Asian qualifiers.

“It will come in time (win over Australia). We’ll just try to get more comfortable with each other, more comfortable with the system. And we’ll see it again next year,” Ramos said.

Galloway and Owen Foxwell led Australia with 15 points each. Jack McVeigh had 12 markers while Magnay and Xavier Cooks scored 10 each for the Boomers, who controlled the boards, 57-36, and got 20 second chance points.