Kevin Quiambao drew the admiration of Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone with the way he stepped up big time in an all-important victory over host Saudi Arabia in the playoff for a quarterfinal slot of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah.
The youngest player in Cone’s roster displayed incredible confidence, composure and maturity beyond his years to help Gilas pull off a 95-88 overtime win over the Saudis in front of a sea of green-clad home crowd early Tuesday (Manila time) at the King Abdullah Sports City.
Quiambao, 24, drained a pair of three-pointers in a decisive 11-2 run to open the extra period that gave Gilas a nine-point margin with two minutes left.
It was enough separation to cushion Saudi Arabia’s comeback attempt as the Filipinos got through to the Last Eight to face defending champion Australia.
“Well, you know, Kevin is not afraid of the moment. I think that’s the best way to describe Kevin. He is, you know, nothing’s too big for him and he’ll play big,” Cone said of the De La Salle University product.
The 6-foot-5 forward finished with 17 points off 6-of-12 shooting from the field including three three-pointers, in almost 32 minutes of action.
“He’ll play the same way whether he’s playing here in the Asia Cup or if he’s playing in the bottom guy league. You know, he’s just got that kind of personality. He’s going to bring it all the time, and he’s not going to be afraid to step up and take the big shot when it’s presented to him,” Cone said.
“And that’s not always the case with a lot of players, and that’s what makes him special. And, you know, we’re still learning a lot about Kevin because he is the young gun on the team. You know, he’s I think the youngest player. I’m not sure either him or Carl (Tamayo), but they’re both the same age, and he’s our youngest player.”
Quiambao scored 11 points in the first half where Gilas controlled the tempo of the game.
The Goyang Sono Skygunners import playing in the Korean Basketball League, however, was checked in the second half where he went scoreless.
When naturalized player Justin Brownlee sent the game into overtime with a killer three-pointer in the waning seconds of regulation, Quiambao took over.
He opened the extra five minutes with a trey before nailing another one with 2:10 left for a 90-81 Gilas lead. His hot hands allowed the Philippines to drain the fight out of the stunned Saudis, who remained on the losing end of the two nations’ head-to-head after four meetings.
Quiambao’s explosion came at the most opportune time after Calvin Oftana went down with an ankle sprain in the final group stage match against Iraq last Saturday that had him sidelined for the game.
“You know, he’s another guy we can throw in there. And it also helped because we didn’t have Calvin, and Calvin is one of our primary shooters. So, for Kevin to step up and hit big shots for us was huge,” Cone said.
Quiambao’s performance made a strong case for him to remain in Cone’s rotation especially against the mighty Australians.
“He’s, you know, battling for his position, and he’s battling for his minutes, and he just keeps wowing us,” Cone shared.
“So, he’s winning those battles, and so he’s becoming a vital cog, another guy we can throw in there with Justin and Dwight (Ramos), you know, and New (Chris Newsome) and Scottie (Thompson) and, you know, June Mar (Fajardo), AJ (Edu), of course.”