Gilas Pilipinas Men fought valiantly, but their late surge fell short as the New Zealand Tall Blacks held on for a 69–66 victory in their first win of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers on Thursday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Trailing by 11 entering the fourth quarter, Gilas refused to go down without a fight. Dwight Ramos electrified the arena with a long triple to cut the lead to 66–64 with 47 seconds remaining and added another score with 8.1 seconds left.
Reuben Te Rangi’s free throw split later gave the Philippines a chance to take the lead, but Ramos’ final heave fell short, sealing New Zealand’s win.
“I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I’m happy about our performance. The bottom line is, we’re not going to feel good or take pride in the fact that we got close or we almost won,” said Gilas head coach Tim Cone.
“Bottom line, we’re here to win, and we didn’t do that.”
The loss drops Gilas to second place in Pool A, while Australia maintained its unbeaten record at 3–0 following a 93–80 victory over Guam earlier in the day.
New Zealand notched its first win and will face winless Guam on Sunday, while Gilas hosts Australia in a crucial match-up at the same venue.
The Philippines could not replicate its November 2024 triumph over New Zealand at the same arena, when they edged the Tall Blacks, 94–83. Since then, New Zealand has won three straight meetings, including an 87–80 victory in February 2025’s Asia Cup Qualifiers and a 94–86 win in the Asia Cup last August.
“There aren’t too many secrets out there, but look, we came here to get the win, and we got it done. It was a culmination of our short preparation for this game,” said Tall Blacks head coach Jude Flavell.
“We had a couple of practices before we got into the game, and a large part of it, too, was the Philippines’ physicality. There are certainly a lot of areas that we can tidy up come the next game.”
Justin Brownlee — who had been averaging 22.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in his first 18 FIBA national team games — struggled with just four points and six rebounds.
Despite Brownlee’s slow start, the Philippines came out strong, ignited by CJ Perez’s hot hand as he scored the first 10 points for Gilas, pushing the hosts to a 14–7 lead.
But Perez picked up his second foul early, and the team’s rhythm faltered. New Zealand seized the moment, racing ahead 37–27 with three minutes left in the second quarter.
Perez, who started in place of Scottie Thompson, finished with 15 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Ramos tallied 16 points, eight rebounds, and two steals, while Juan Gomez de Liano — in his first Gilas appearance since Window 1 of the 2023 World Qualifiers — contributed 10 points.
The big men also delivered: AJ Edu finished with 11 rebounds, seven points, and three blocks, while Quentin Millora-Brown tallied seven points, six rebounds, and two steals in a foul-plagued outing.
“So, there were certain parts of the game I thought we did well. I thought our big guys, AJ and Q, did well. We didn’t get the shots that we wanted, and we didn’t get the flow we wanted. We showed up to win, and we didn’t do that tonight,” said Cone.
Thompson’s entrance with 3:02 remaining in the first half sparked a 10–0 Gilas run, tying the game at halftime and giving fans hope for a comeback. Thompson played only 14 minutes in the contest.
After the break, however, Max Darling, Sam Mennenga, and Alex McNaught regained control for the Tall Blacks, exploiting key breaks and punishing Gilas inside.
The Tall Blacks had balanced scoring, with hulking Max Darling leading the way with 11 points.
Sam Mennenga and Alex McNaught added 10 apiece, with Mennenga also grabbing 14 rebounds.
The Scores:
New Zealand 69 – Darling 11, Mennenga 10, McNaught 10, Harrison 9, Te Rangi 7, Britt 5, Davison 5, Wetzell 4, Ngatai 3, Murray 3, Smith-Miner 2, Rasmussen 0.
Philippines 66 – Ramos 16, Perez 15, Gomez de Liano 10, Millora-Brown 7, Edu 5, Brownlee 4, Oftana 3, Tamayo 3, Quiambao 2, Thompson 1, Fajardo 0, Newsome 0.
Quarterscores: 21-25, 37-37, 57-46, 69-66.
