Gilas Pilipinas celebrate its win against Hong Kong. | Fiba photo
MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas moved closer to the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 following a 93-54 rout of Hong Kong, witnessed by 11,896 fans at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Sunday night, November 24, 2024.
Gilas Pilipinas took the lead early although it wasn’t until the third quarter where it broke the game wide open, eventually extending its unbeaten streak to four to stay atop Group B, highlighted by a 93-89 upset of World No. 22 New Zealand on Thursday.
Gilas also whipped Hong Kong, 84-64, and Chinese Taipei, 106-53, in February.
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If New Zealand (2-1) beats Chinese Taipei (1-2) in Christchurch on Monday, Gilas will formalize its trip to the Saudi Arabia Cup in August next year.
Carl Tamayo topscored for the Filipinos with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and grabbed 6 rebounds as he made the most out of coach Tim Cone’s decision to give the younger ones extended playing time.
Veteran June Mar Fajardo finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds, while Justin Brownlee supplied 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals
Kai Sotto tallied 12 points and 15 rebounds with 2 assists and the same amount of blocks as he continued his solid play after starring versus the Tall Blacks.
Scottie Thompson was crucial in the third-quarter pullaway, forming a three-headed attack along with Brownlee and Fajardo to put together the 13-0 run en route to a commanding 67-40 lead with 1:05 remaining in the period.
“In the second half, I felt that we came out and we got to the shooters a little bit better. We scrambled a little bit more. We should get out there because we’ve got protection behind us in June Mar and Kai,” Cone said.