By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team wrapped up its FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers first window campaign with a dominant victory over Chinese-Taipei, 106-53, on February 25, 2024, in front of their home fans at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
With the commanding win, the Filipino hoopers just capped off its tremendous FIBA Asia Cup stint with an undefeated 2-0 record.
Following a masterclass performance over Hong Kong several days ago, Gilas Pilipinas flew back home and protected its home court against one of its arch-rivals at the FIBA Asia level.
Unlike their past matchups where things always turned into a nip-and-tuck affair, Gilas Pilipinas this time asserted its mastery from the get-go and didn’t allow Chinese-Taipei to capture any momentum in the game.
Gilas quickly pounced on the visiting nation and built a 13-point lead after the end of the first quarter. Chinese-Taipei trimmed their deficit to just a single digit in the first two minutes of the second frame but the waxing-hot PHL national squad had another efficient scoring night and established a 25-point advantage at the end of the half.
The Filipinos tore a page of their playbook against Hong Kong and replicated its crisp ball movement against Chinese-Taipei.
For the second-straight outing, Gilas reached 30 assists, a tremendous achievement for a 40-minute duration game at the FIBA level.
It was all Gilas in the second half as they just snowballed its way in the last two frames, outscoring Chinese-Taipei, 54-26.
The returning Justin Brownlee led the nationals with an all-around performance of 26 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and a steal.
Meanwhile, Kai Sotto continued his stellar outing under the revamped system of coach Tim Cone, dropping 18 markers, 10 boards, five dimes, and three rejections.
Gilas will now take their well-deserved rest before they jump back into action on July 3, 2024, for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
