By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Justin Brownlee’s terrific performance during the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) Riga, Latvia leg will forever be remembered by the thousands of Filipinos who stood by Gilas Pilipinas until their semifinal qualification.
Despite being ranked lower than Latvia, Georgia, and Brazil, the PHL showed that they can compete with the world’s best and capped off the prestigious tournament with a 1-2 record.
That stretch of unbelievable outings won’t be possible without Brownlee. As a result, the RIGA FIBA OQT selected him as one of the members of the leg’s All-Star Mythical Five.
Brownlee joined a list of star-studded names as he completed the ultimate five of Latvia’s Rihards Lomazs, Brazil’s Bruno Caboclo & Leo Meindl, and Cameroon’s Jeremiah Hill.
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel resident import was locked in from the get-go and immediately showed the world what he could do after steering Gilas to a stunning win over the world no. 6 Latvia.
Entering the matchup as huge underdogs against the home bet, Brownlee pulled off a dazzling performance of 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, helping Gilas shock Latvia with an 89-80 victory.
Although they lost in their next game against Georgia, the Filipinos still put up a fight after erasing a 20-point deficit, 96-94.
For the second straight game, Brownlee had a near triple-double outing and led the Filipinos with 28 markers, eight boards, and eight dimes.
However, Brownlee’s streak of consecutive 20-point games halted when they played Brazil, the eventual champions of the Riga leg.
Brownlee shot his lowest shooting percentage of the entire tournament but was still able to tally 15 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.
After three games in the FIBA OQT, Brownlee became Gilas’ top-scorer and was the Riga leg’s leader in points.
Congratulations, JB!
