MANILA – Kevin Quiambao delivered a strong second-half performance, but Gilas Pilipinas fell short against Chinese Taipei, 95-87, to open its FIBA Asia Cup campaign early Wednesday (Philippine Time) at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Quiambao scored 17 points — all in the last 16 and a half minutes — on 6-of-10 shooting, while also adding four rebounds and two assists. His late surge kept Gilas within striking distance despite Justin Brownlee being saddled with foul trouble and eventually fouling out.
“As for Kevin, he played very, very well. He was definitely the highlight of our team tonight,” Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone said. “He came out and played with a lot of energy, hitting some big shots for us.”
“However, we still came up short. Once again, we were playing on our heels — rushing to get back into the game, forcing a lot of ill-advised shots, and committing unnecessary fouls,” he added.
Ray Chen proved too much for Gilas, firing 34 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including some timely three-pointers that kept Gilas Pilipinas at bay, to lead the Chinese Taipei squad.
Brandon Gilbeck added 16 points on a perfect 4-of-4 clip and nine rebounds as the Taiwanese squad seized the Group D lead alongside New Zealand.
“Honestly, they (Chinese Taipei) outcoached us tonight — it was a disappointing performance on my part. This loss really hurts,” admitted the long-time Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings coach.
Brownlee still finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, and two assists for Gilas, which suffered its second straight loss to Chinese Taipei in an official FIBA game following its February defeat in the qualifiers.
“This loss is a major roadblock that we now have to overcome,” Cone said. “Let’s see what we can do to bounce back and move forward, because that’s the only thing we can do at this point.”
“But coming into this tournament, we truly believed we had a real chance to go far — no doubt about it. If that means coming from the loser’s bracket, then that’s what we’ll have to do,” he added.
Gilas Pilipinas campaign continues in a must-win match against Oceania powerhouse New Zealand at 11 p.m. tonight (Philippine time) — a game that could determine the fate of their playoff hopes.
BOX SCORE:
Chinese Taipei 95 – Chen 34, Gilbeck 16, Lin 14, Hinton R. 14, Gadiaga 5, Hinton A. 4, Tseng 4, Ma 3, Hu 1, Liu 0, Gao 0, Chen 0.
Philippines 87 – Brownlee 19, Quiambao 17, Ramos 16, Thompson 16, Edu 8, Oftana 6, Newsome 3, Fajardo 2, Perez 0, Aguilar 0, Tamayo 0.
Quarterscores: 27-16, 43-34, 73-62, 95-87.
