After a thrilling 95-88 overtime victory over host Saudi Arabia secured Gilas Pilipinas a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 quarterfinals, head coach Tim Cone knows there’s no time to celebrate just yet.
The Nationals remain in a do-or-die situation as they prepare to face the two-time defending champions and tournament favorites, Australia, on Wednesday, August 13, at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The road to ending a 40-year Asia Cup title drought just got even steeper.
Australia, coached by Adam Caporn — a protege of Brian Goorjian, who is no stranger to Cone — boasts a roster filled with NBL veterans such as Jaylin Galloway, Reyne Smith, and Jack McVeigh.
The Nationals’ early losses to Chinese Taipei and New Zealand forced them into a tough position as the third seed in Group D, setting up this challenging quarterfinal clash with the Boomers.
But rather than shy away from the challenge, Cone is embracing it with pride.
The winningest head coach in PBA history will face Australia for the very first time in his storied national team career.
“I’ve never coached against Australia before. This will be my first time, so I’m excited about it,” Cone said.
Cone fully understands the daunting task ahead. Since their last Asia Cup title in December 1985 — led by legends like Allan Caidic — Gilas has struggled against the Boomers.
Out of six meetings, the Philippines has only one win: a narrow 101-100 victory during the World Championship Classification Round on July 9, 1974, over 51 years ago.
Since then, Gilas has lost the last four encounters, with an average losing margin of nearly 29 points per game.
The most recent was the infamous 2018 brawl at the Philippine Arena, which ended in a lopsided 53-89 defeat after nine Filipino players were ejected.
Despite the unfavorable history and odds, Cone sees this matchup as an inevitable hurdle for any team aiming to win the Asia Cup.
“We know that they are pretty much the number one seed in the tournament. For us to beat them, it’s going to be an upset. Winning this game the way we won tonight, hopefully, we can carry that momentum to that game,” the 67-year-old mentor said.
“We didn’t expect to play them early in this tournament but losing our first two games got us here. We figured that if we are going to do something special in this tournament, you have to go through Australia at some point. It’s here in front of us, we are going to do our best, and get at ‘em,” Cone added.
Gilas hopes to lean on the momentum from back-to-back wins over Iraq and Saudi Arabia, plus the fact that key players like Justin Brownlee, Dwight Ramos, and Scottie Thompson will enjoy a full day of rest before the prime-time showdown at 7:00 PM.
Rising stars Kevin Quiambao (17 points on 6-of-12 shooting) and AJ Edu (17 points, 11 rebounds) have also emerged as pivotal contributors, further bolstering the team’s confidence.
“We’re enthused that we have a day to prepare and a day for Justin to rest and Dwight and some of the guys. That’s going to help out a lot. We didn’t want to put a lot of preparation into Australia and look past the Kingdom,” said Cone.
“It was really important for us to focus on this basketball game first. Just told the guys that as soon as we hit the bus, we’ll start looking at Australia.”
