Superior athletes.

This was how Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone put into words the steaming freight train that is Australia in the aftermath of the Philippines’ total wreck of a result in the third window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Monday.

Limping without injured naturalized player Justin Brownlee, Cone’s wards got beaten black and blue by the world No. 6 Boomers by 43 points to cap a disappointing two-game road trip that saw Gilas lose four straight matches to end the first round.

“Well, it wasn’t a lot of fun, that’s for sure,” said Cone following Gilas’ 49-92 dismantling Monday at the RAC Arena in Perth.

“It was a tough, tough beating that we took out there. And the problem is that this is the one we’re going to remember,” the mentor added.

Gilas missed the services of Brownlee due to a hamstring strain and peroneal tendinopathy on his right leg as well as swelling and cartilage defects on the left knee.

Left with just a couple of veterans, the young Gilas side was competitive in the first three and a half minutes. Then Australia made a 16-0 blitz and Gilas never recovered.

“We really felt we could come out and compete, but we only competed in stretches. That’s not good enough against a high-quality team like this, the No. 6 team in the world. There’s a reason they’re ranked that highly,” Cone said.

“They had really superior athletes out there getting into us and making it tough,” he added.

Committing 19 turnovers that the Boomers converted to 30 turnover points while throwing bricks against Australia’s crippling defense did Gilas in. No one in the Gilas roster fielded by Cone reached double-figure scoring.

Despite the loss, the Philippines advanced to the second round with its 2-4 carryover win-loss record, joining Group A leader Australia (6-0), New Zealand (4-2) and Group C’s Iran (5-1), Jordan (5-1) and Syria (2-4).

However, Gilas will have to thread the proverbial needle in the next phase, which begins in August, to advance to a fourth straight World Cup appearance in Qatar next year.

Gilas will need to win all three of its matches against Jordan, Iran and Syria while hoping for certain teams to lose.

As it stands, the Philippines is in a bad position, even for the best fourth-placed team after the round, which will earn the last ticket for the Doha main draw.

The lowest-ranked teams in the other group in the second round — South Korea, Saudi and China — all carry similar 3-3 slates, which give them a slight advantage at least in the race for the best fourth-placed squad. Lebanon (5-1), Japan (4-2) and Qatar (4-2) round up the group’s composition.

The seven best-ranked teams in the second round and host Qatar will earn slots to the world stage.

Gilas entered the third window with high hopes of pulling at least one upset against New Zealand and Australia after a couple of failed homestands against the same rivals in the second window in Manila earlier in the year.

The Nationals had good preparation with a training camp in Brisbane and a pair of tune-up matches against local clubs in New Zealand.

It didn’t translate to wins, however.

Gilas had a heartbreaking 102-106 double-overtime loss to the Tall Blacks in Auckland last Friday. The came the news of Brownlee being saddled by injury on the eve of the Australia match.

“We’ve had a really outstanding trip. We’ve worked really hard through that trip, went through a tough game against New Zealand in double overtime, then lost our best player, and had to come here and play against these guys. They really were superior athletes,” Cone said.

The decorated mentor admitted that the Aussies’ physical and relentless pressure defense disrupted Gilas’ offense so well that crossing the ball past halfcourt was quite a challenge.

“We couldn’t get into our offense. They did such a great job of defending. We had one good quarter, the second quarter, but we really had trouble just getting the ball past half court and getting into something,” Cone said.

“Credit to their defense. That keyed their transition game, their ability to hit three-point shots, and they just kind of snowballed on us. And that was the result.”

Brownlee’s absence was a factor but Cone acknowledged that even with the 38-year-old player available, it won’t make much of a difference against the mighty Boomers.

Not with Brownlee having a subpar performance with just five points against the Kiwis.

“Well, it wasn’t worth 40 points, that’s for sure,” Cone said.

“He’s a guy we can go to in tough moments, but he just wasn’t ready to play. He wouldn’t have been much of a help the way he was feeling.”

Gilas will have a lot to reflect on in the coming weeks before hosting Jordan on 27 August at the Mall of Asia Arena to begin the second round.