Gilas Pilipinas all but secured a spot in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup on Sunday night after beating Hong Kong, 93-59, in front of another good-sized crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Save for some tense minutes in the opening frame, when Hong Kong’s trey ball was on target, it was practically all Gilas as the nationals pounced on their lower-ranked adversary. A 13-0 blitz midway thru the first quarter turned a 10-9 deficit into a 22-10 lead, and Gilas never looked back.
Hong Kong, though, showed lots of heart in the first half, using their three-point shooting to stay within striking distance, 45-35, going into intermission.
Gilas Pilipinas Turns It Up in the Second Half
Come the third quarter, Gilas Pilipinas began imposing its will on Hong Kong, breaking the game wide open with a backbreaking 16-2 run that extended a 51-38 lead into a 67-40 cushion. In all, Gilas outscored Hong Kong 22-8 in that telling third canto to take a 24-point advantage going to the final quarter.
Gilas’ old reliables went to work again, with Kai Sotto contributing 12 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 assists. June Mar Fajardo and Justin Brownlee chipped in 14 and 13, respectively. Top-scoring for Gilas, though, was Carl Tamayo, who got extended minutes this time around and responded by putting up 16 points. Kevin Quiambao also got more burn and added 8.
Shiu Wah Leungand Oliver Xu carried the fight for Hong Kong with 11 and 10 markers, respectively.
Coupled with their swashbuckling win over New Zealand on Thursday, Gilas Pilipinas have now swept Group B of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers. They will formalize their entry to the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup if the Tall Blacks beat Chinese Taipei later today.
The Scores:
- Philippines 93 – Tamayo 16, Fajardo 14, Brownlee 13, Sotto 12, Perez 10, Newsome 9, Thompson 8, Quiambao 8, Amos 3
- Hong Kong 54 – Leung S. 11, Xu 10, Yang 9, Tsai 8, Reid 6, Yip 4, Pok 3, Leung K. 3
