Gilas Pilipinas shoots for FIBA Asia QF spot in do-or-die match vs Saudi Arabia

The stakes couldn’t be higher as Gilas Pilipinas tangles with host Saudi Arabia in a midnight Tuesday showdown that will decide who advances to the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinals in Jeddah.

The Filipinos and the Saudis will meet again after three years at the King Abdullah Sports City at 12 a.m., with the winner setting a QF date with no less than two-time defending champion Australia.

With a lot on the line, both teams expect a dogfight.

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone said he understands it’s going to be a tough road ahead for his crew, especially with how they fared in their last three games against Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, and Iraq.

The Filipinos struggled early on after dropping their matches to Chinese Taipei and the Tall Blacks, but found their breakthrough win against the Iraqis as they punched their ticket to the qualification to quarterfinals.

Still, there's no letup for Gilas.

"We know the road is going to be tough, we know we picked a tougher road to go but we’re ready to accept that challenge," Cone stressed following their 66-57 win over Iraq last Saturday.

"It’s tough when you’re playing on your heels and playing behind all the time, which we did against Chinese Taipei and we did it again against New Zealand but what I like about our team is we just don’t quit."

Same goes for Saudi Arabia, which sees the Philippines as among the top contenders in the tournament despite a 1-2 win-loss card in Group D.

"We have our next match, it’s not [gonna be] easy, it’s very difficult. But everyday is difficult so we’ll give our best," Saudi Arabia head coach Ricard Casas said.

"Of course it’s very important in these next hours to prepare for the game because we’ll play against a good team, the Philippines. It’s top-level in the FIBA rankings, they have excellent players."

The Philippines and Saudi Arabia have met only three times in FIBA tournaments, with the Filipinos winning on all occasions, the last of which was a 76-63 win during the fifth window of 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers in Jeddah as well.

Kai Sotto led the way along with RR Pogoy and CJ Perez in that 13-point victory.

But Gilas isn’t putting much weight on the past, choosing instead to embrace the challenges at hand.

Justin Brownlee is once again expected to spearhead Gilas’ offense, but Cone urged the rest of the squad to step up amid the defensive focus on the naturalized forward.

Dwight Ramos, who scored a team-high 21 points in their last game, is tipped to provide the huge lift alongside the front court tandem of June Mar Fajrdo and AJ Edu and the veteran presence of Scottie Thompson.

Gilas, though, might be one man down with Calvin Oftana hurting his ankle in their last outing. 

"We have to use Justin not just to be as a scorer for us, but we can play off of him because he does draw so much attention," Cone added.

"And we actually made our run in that second quarter with Justin out of the game so everybody was like more involved."

—JMB, GMA Integrated News