Head held high, Justin Brownlee walked off the court in Jeddah knowing that while Gilas Pilipinas’ FIBA Asia Cup’s campaign remains in jeopardy, their defiant fightback against New Zealand will be remembered as a show of heart.
The Philippines fell to the Tall Blacks in a gut-wrenching 94-86 defeat in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025, but not before nearly erasing an 18-point deficit behind the inspired play of the Barangay Ginebra resident import.
After fouling out in Gilas’ 95-87 loss to Chinese Taipei, Brownlee bounced back in emphatic fashion. He erupted for a game-high 37 points along with five rebounds and three assists.
“I’m very proud of the guys. A lot of teams would give up in those situations. I think we went down by 20 points or whatever it was,” Brownlee told One Sports early Friday morning (Philippine time) at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“It’s just a point where we didn’t worry about the score — we just tried to fight and claw our way back in,” he added.
New Zealand came out blazing, hitting 9-of-15 from beyond the arc to build a game-high 18-point lead, 55-37, with just over a minute left in the first half.
But with Brownlee and Dwight Ramos leading the charge, Gilas refused to fold.
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The duo combined for 20 of the team’s 27 third-quarter points, slashing the deficit to just six, 74-68, entering the final period.
Riding the momentum, Brownlee drilled a booming triple to bring the Philippines within three, 85-82, with 3:52 remaining.
However, two clutch baskets from Taylor Britt and costly turnovers in the closing minutes derailed Gilas’ comeback bid.
“We got in, we got back in the game, but a couple of mental mistakes and a couple of big plays from New Zealand allowed them to hold their lead,” Brownlee admitted.
The loss was a crushing blow for the Philippines, now staring at a do-or-die clash against Iraq tomorrow at 4:00 PM (Philippine time) for the final playoff spot in Group D.
The winner will take the third seed and face the second seed in Group C for a coveted quarterfinal ticket.
As of posting, host nation Saudi Arabia holds the inside track for that Group C spot after a stunning 77-73 upset of perennial contender Jordan.
Should Gilas get past Iraq, a Saudi win over India would set up a playoff showdown between the hosts and the Filipinos.
Fully aware of the stakes, Brownlee urged Gilas to move past the heartbreak and keep their eyes on the mission.
“We just got to move forward. We can’t hang our heads or be down on this loss. We gotta just take whatever we learned from it and just move forward. And at the end of the day, we just gotta keep fighting and show our Filipino pride,” Brownlee said.
