By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team absorbed their first defeat in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, losing to Chinese-Taipei, 91-84, in their opening game of the second window on February 20, 2025, at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
With the loss, the inspired Chinese-Taipei national team just made history after breaking their nine-year FIBA stage losing streak against the Philippines.
Chinese-Taipei’s last FIBA win over Gilas Pilipinas was during the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge held in Tehran, Iran, where they walked off the floor with a convincing 87-76 victory.
Since that win, Chinese Taipei received a series of heartbreaking losses against Gilas Pilipinas and failed to clinch a single dub in their last four matchups.
With the high stakes on the line and the ultimate goal of getting back in front of their home fans, Chinese-Taipei played four stellar quarters and pulled off a two-way efficient outing that caught head coach Tim Cone and the whole PHL delegation off guard.
It was a different Chinese-Taipei squad that they faced in the second FIBA Asia Cup window as the presence of their naturalized big man enforcer Brandon Gilbeck set the tone for them and made a huge difference.
Not known for their interior prowess during their past performances, Chinese-Taipei quickly transformed from a one-dimensional team to an unpredictable well-oiled machine as Gilbeck provided the much-needed second-chance scoring opportunities and an added anchor in their paint defense.
Gilbeck became a headache for the banged-up Gilas team which is badly missing their young frontcourt star, Kai Sotto, due to a season-ending knee injury.
Without the presence of Sotto, Gilbeck and the rest of the Chinese-Taipei slashers had their way against AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo, who were slow in recovering in the pick-and-roll switch that the home team loved to run.
Chinese-Taipei established their largest lead of the ball game at 12 points late in the third quarter but Justin Brownlee turned to beast mode once again and gave his all to carry the struggling Gilas squad in the final frame.
Brownlee’s hot hands helped Gilas retake the lead, 80-79, backstopped by Chris Newsome’s pair of mid-range jumpers.
However, Chinese-Taipei fed the waxing-hot Chun Hsiang Lu who put Gilas to sleep with a clutch three-pointer in the final 47 seconds of the game.
Lu’s dagger ballooned Chinese-Taipei’s lead back to five points, 89-84, which put Gilas in a dangerous spot due to the limited time remaining to stage a dramatic comeback.
Gilas didn’t convert a basket in the next sequence and could only hear the loud Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium explode in joy after witnessing their national team halt their nine-year losing streak to the PHL.
Brownlee had a terrific performance and was a one-man wrecking machine for Gilas with 39 big points built from eight treys but their turnovers and poor three-point shooting hunted them all night long.
On the other hand, Chinese-Taipei received a balanced scoring avalanche from their roster, led by the duo of Mohammad Al Bachir Gadiaga and Lin Ting-Chien who each delivered 21 points.
Lu, the clutch shot-maker for the home team, chipped in 18 markers derived from four three-pointers while Gilbeck had an all-around outing of eight points, eight rebounds, and five blocks.
“I thought the Chinese Taipei team was very impressive. We made a couple of runs at them, hoping they would crack, but they never did. They kept their composure and kept making big shots. Very impressive win by them, and they were very well-deserving,” said Gilas head coach Tim Cone after the loss.
