Justin Brownlee turned in another performance to remember as he willed Gilas Pilipinas to a dramatic come-from-behind 77-76 victory over China to reach the 19th Asian Games men’s basketball final, Wednesday night.
The naturalized forward finished with 33 points, 17 of which he made in the fourth quarter alone that included the go-ahead triple with 23.3 seconds left to put them up after being down by as many as 20 points early in the third.
A miss by Zhang Zhenlin on the other end sealed the result for the Filipino dribblers, who then erupted in jubilation for all the home crowd that filled up the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium to witness.
By completing the fightback, the Philippines will be making its way back to the Asiad finale after 33 long years, or since a PBA select team settled for a silver-medal finish to the Chinese in the 1990 competitions in Beijing.
They will be battling Jordan for the gold medal on Friday at 8 p.m., with Gilas hungry for payback after being mauled by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and the Falcons, 87-62, during their group phase encounter just last Saturday.
Surely, Brownlee will be a marked man in the highly-anticipated title bout, especially after yet another sterling showing that stunned the hosts.
Barely 24 hours after dropping 36 to beat Iran in the quarters, the 35-year-old had to put up another Herculean effort against China particularly in the second half, where he scored 27 of his output to lead the crawl back.
He played for a total of 39 minutes and 51 seconds, yet he still shot an efficient 57-percent from the floor. That included a 7-of-12 clip from beyond the arc, five of which he nailed in the final chapter alone.
Brownlee scored Gilas’ last eight points to provide the finishing touches of their 10-0 run to end the game after trailing, 76-67, with 3:07 left.
Providing support for the resident Ginebra import was long-time teammate Scottie Thompson, who supplied 13 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.
June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez scored eight points apiece as the San Miguel tandem helped out in the third-quarter attack that trimmed what was once a 52-32 deficit to just 12, 62-50, entering the final 10 minutes.
Kevin Alas only made five points but those were crucial buckets as it enabled Gilas to cut the gap to just four twice in the fourth. His rim pressure was indeed huge as it opened things up for his side in the eventual comeback.
Leading China, on the other hand, was Zhao Rui, who finished with 18 points, five rebounds, six assists, and two steals in the meltdown.
Hu Mingxuan, Zhu Junlong, and Wang Zhelin added 10 points apiece for Team Dragon, who failed to protect the throne they conquered in 2018.
The best they could win now is a bronze, which they’ll try to accomplish against Chinese Taipei on Friday as well.
The Scores:
Philippines 77 – Brownlee 33, Thompson 13, Fajardo 8, Perez 8, Alas 5, Newsome 4, Oftana 4, Kouame 2, Ross 0, Lassiter 0, Aguilar 0.
China 76 – Zhao R. 18, Hu M. 10, Zhu 10, Wang 10, Zhao J. 9, Hu J. 8, Du 6, Zhang 4, Cui 1, Cheng 0.
Quarterscores: 17-19, 30-48, 50-62, 77-76
