Breaking the heart of the home team is becoming a habit for Justin Brownlee.
The 37-year-old Brownlee struck anew as he delivered yet another clutch performance to lead Gilas Pilipinas to a heart-stopping 95-88 overtime victory over Saudi Arabia in the playoff of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup on Tuesday at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.
With Gilas staring at a painful defeat with a 76-79 deficit in the final eight seconds of regulation, Brownlee unloaded a heavily-contested three-pointer off the defense of Marzouq Almuwallad to send the game into overtime with only 3.7 seconds left, much to the disbelief of the massive and noisy home crowd.
In the extra period, young guns Dwight Ramos and Kevin Quiambao stepped up to seal the victory and forge a battle with reigning champion Australia for a spot in the semifinals of this prestigious continental showpiece.
Brownlee, who finished with 29 points on a sizzling 11-of-16 shooting from the field, admitted that he has a penchant for delivering the dagger when the game is on the line.
“These are the moments every player dreams of: Going wire to wire in an atmosphere like Saudi had today,” said Brownlee, who has been delivering big baskets since joining Barangay Ginebra in the Philippine Basketball Association as a replacement import in 2016.
“I can’t say if it’s clutch genes or something I developed. I just think that, as a player, if you see the opportunity, you just have to go after it.”