New Zealand frustrates Gilas Pilipinas

Sports

GILAS Pilipinas suffered its first loss in the Asian qualifiers of the 2027 FIBA World Cup after it succumbed to New Zealand, 66-69, on Thursday night, Feb. 26, at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Gilas faltered after sweeping the first window of the Asian qualifiers to fall to 2-1 (win-loss). The Nationals will take on Australia on Sunday, March 1, to cap its two-game assignment in the second window of the qualifiers.

Australia earlier defeated Guam, 83-80, and coupled with Gilas’ loss, it took the No. 1 spot in Group A with a perfect 3-0 card.

The Nationals fell behind by 11 points in the final period but fought back late in the game. Gilas moved within 66-68 when Dwight Ramos scored on a layup with eight seconds to play.

Gilas had the chance to force overtime when New Zealand’s Reuben Te Rangi missed one of his two free throws but Ramos’ desperation triple at the buzzer failed to hit the mark.

Max Darling scored 11 points to lead New Zealand while Alex McNaught and Sam Mennenga each had 10 markers as the Tall Blacks finally barged into the win column after starting the qualifiers with two straight losses.

Ramos paced Gilas with 16 points while CJ Perez added 15 markers. Justin Brownlee was held down to just four points on dismal 2-of-10 shooting from the field.

THE SCORES:

NEW ZEALAND (69)- Darling 11, Mennenga 10, McNaught 10, Harrison 9, Te Rangi 7, Davison 5, Britt 5, Wetzell 4, Ngatai 3, Murray 3, Smith-Milner 2, Rasmussen 0.

PHILIPPINES (66)- Ramos 16, Perez 15, Gomez de Liano 10, Millora-Brown 7, Edu 5, Brownlee 4, Tamayo 3, Oftana 3, Quiambao 2, Thompson 1, Newsome 0, Fajardo 0.QUARTERSCORES: 25-21; 37-37; 57-46; 69-66.(CCM)