Cone admits Australia’s athleticism, length overwhelmed Gilas Pilipinas in FIBA Asia Cup QF loss

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone admitted that Australia’s superior athleticism and length proved to be a wall too high for the Filipinos to overcome, as the Philippines suffered an 84-60 blowout loss in their 2025 FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinals clash on Wednesday.

"No doubt, the Australians' athleticism and length, even though you see it on videos, when you get there and start playing them on the court, you'll realize they're very superior," Cone said.

"And so we just had a hard time staying in front of them and hard time challenging their threes, and they moved the ball really well and they got up shots quick. They played at a really good pace."

The Boomers clicked from the floor right from the get-go, with youngster Jaylin Galloway heating up and firing three three-pointers that set the tone for the defending champions.

It was all Australia from that point on, as the likes of Owen Stephen Foxwell, Will Magnay, and Jack McVeigh helped seal another lopsided win for the Boomers.

Australia dominated in almost all facets of the game, hitting 11 triples compared to Gilas’ eight, while also controlling the boards with 57 rebounds to the Filipinos’ 36.

They also clamped down on Justin Brownlee, limiting the naturalized forward to just 10 points on only seven shot attempts. That allowed Kevin Quiambao to take over the scoring load with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from deep.

READ MORE | Gilas Pilipinas scores and stats vs Australia

"They also did a great job on defending Justin, limiting him to only seven shots. So the tournament is over for us and the big scheme of things, we’re not pleased with what happened," Cone added.

"But like I said, this is a great team to be around and I’m really proud and honored to be on this team and be with these guys but tonight was not a good performance for us."

Gilas now sets its sights on the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, where they’ll face Australia again, along with New Zealand and Guam, starting this November.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News