MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas national men’s basketball team prevailed over Jordan, 75-61, in a final tune-up game on Saturday night (Sunday morning in the Philippines) before the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup at Al Ahli Sports Club in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Kevin Quiambao, Dwight Ramos, Calvin Oftana, and Earl Scottie Thompson made timely three-pointers in the fourth quarter as Gilas prevented the comeback attempt of Jordan.
It was actually a low-scoring affair with Gilas Pilipinas clinging to a 40-29 advantage at the half before the Jordanians closed the gap at the end of third quarter at 47-55.
Despite attempts by Jordan to keep the match close in the final quarter, Gilas Pilipinas notched four crucial outside conversion to maintain the double-digit spread the rest of the way.
Jordanians played in the friendly match without their naturalized player and TNT Tropang 5G resident import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which shared information of the match on their social media pages, stated that the tune-up match was not televised since it was a closed-door game.
This was the Tim Cone-mentored national team’s second tune-up game before the FIBA Asia Cup following their come-from-behind 103-98 win over the Macau Black Bears last week at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Philippine men’s basketball team will commence their FIBA Asia Cup campaign against Chinese Taipei on Tuesday evening (2 a.m. Wednesday morning, Philippine time).
It will continue with a match against New Zealand on Thursday night (11 p.m. in the Philippines) and Iraq on Saturday (4 p.m. in the Philippines)./PN
