Boomers blowout Gilas, keep perfect record

Australia silenced the home crowd with a 93-66 blowout of Gilas Pilipinas to remain unbeaten in the second window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.  

No punches or chairs were thrown in the Boomers’ return eight years after the infamous ‘basketbrawl’ in Bulacan. Still, the Aussies’ mastery over Gilas continued with a strong second-half performance.

A 30-point third quarter storm gave the second round-bound Australia significant separation before blowing the game wide-open in the fourth period to send Gilas to back-to-back losses after going 2-0 in the opening window of Group A.   

Despite the loss that pulled Gilas to a 2-2 win-loss card, the Filipinos secured a spot in the second round after New Zealand kept Guam winless in a 99-67 rout earlier in its home turf.

The Philippines has yet to beat Australia since posting a close-shaved 101-100 win in the FIBA World Cup in Puerto Rico in 1974.

Gilas failed to protect its homecourt following a stinging 66-69 defeat at the hands of the Tall Blacks.

Australia peppered Gilas with 15 three-pointers.

Elijah Pepper fired 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting including five triples, and grabbed seven rebounds for Australia. Tanner Krebs had 18 markers while Mitch Creek and Tom Wilson had 13 and 12 points, respectively.

From a five-point lead at the halftime break, the Aussies found their range from the outside in the second half.

Wilson’s three-pointer with 3:09 left in the game gave the Boomers their biggest lead at 88-59.

“They really used their size to their advantage and really took us out of our comfort zone. Pressuring the ball. We can’t take the ball in the post and on the sides that we wanted to,” Gilas big man Quetin Millora-Brown said.

Naturalized player Justin Brownlee dropped 20 points after a measly four-point outing against New Zealand. He also had eight rebounds and seven assists.

“We fought really hard. We had the game within reach for the most part but in the second second they got their threes and they just got into rhythm,” Brownlee said.

Millora-Brown finished with 11 points and five boards while Dwight Ramos got nine for Gilas.