Romwel Anzures

Gilas Pilipinas in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup. Photo from FIBA Basketball.

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ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1755077492940IMG_8015.webp" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Gilas Pilipinas in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup. Photo from FIBA Basketball."/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Gilas Pilipinas in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup. <em>Photo from FIBA Basketball.</em></span></span></span>MANILA — Gilas Pilipinas is currently riding a losing streak against Australia in FIBA competition.</div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/8/12/fiba-7-years-since-infamous-brawl-gilas-looks-to-rewrite-history-against-australia-2338"><strong>READ: 7 years since infamous brawl, Gilas looks to rewrite history against Australia</strong></a></div><p>The Philippines has this challenge at hand when they face the Boomers in the 2025 Asia Cup quarterfinals tonight, a game that head coach Tim Cone said they need to defy the odds to overcome.</p><p>“For us to beat them is going to be an upset,” said the Barangay Ginebra mentor.</p><p>According to FIBA, since 1978, the Nationals have succumbed to the Australians for four straight games with an average margin of 28.75 points, with the latest one being the infamous brawl of 2018 at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan during the 2019 World Cup Asian Qualifiers.</p><p>The Philippines also has only won a single game in six meetings against the Aussies in their all-time head-to-head matchups — one that came over five decades ago wherein the Filipinos scored a 101-100 triumph during the classification round of the 1974 World Championships for Men.</p><p>In addition, the Boomers are currently 15-0 in Asia Cup competition since shifting federations in 2017. They were 12-0 from the said year until 2022, and are currently 3-0 prior to the quarters.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Tall Order</strong></div><p>Aside from history, Australia can also lean on its height to impose over Gilas.</p><p>The Boomers, according to their FIBA profiles, have five players who are listed 6&#x27;7 or higher.</p><p>One of those is 7-foot Harry Wessels who is averaging 5.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in 12 minutes of action, while another notable big is 6-foot-9 Will Magnay and his 7.3 markers, 4.7 boards, and 1.7 blocks in 19.4 minutes per game.</p><p>Gilas now hopes that Justin Brownlee, AJ Edu, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Carl Tamayo, and even Jamie Malonzo can match up with the Aussies’ bigs who are averaging 48.7 rebounds as a team.</p><p>In comparison, Brownlee, Edu, and company are averaging 44.0 boards per contest.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Defend the 3</strong></div><p>One of Gilas’ issues in their first four games of the tournament was their opponents’ shooting from beyond the arc.</p><p>From the said range, the Philippines allowed Chinese Taipei to shoot 12/27 (44.4%), New Zealand make 13/26 (50%), Iraq drain 9/26 (34.6%), and Saudi Arabia finish with 13/36 (36.1%).</p><p>PH will be facing an Australian team that is shooting 41.9% from deep, which is why they need to put this among their priorities.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>One more miracle for Philippine basketball?</strong></div><p>While the Nationals are having an up-and-down campaign in the Asia Cup, they have proven in recent memory that they can pull miracles against higher-seeded squads.</p><p>In 2024, Gilas defeated Latvia — the world’s No. 6 team at that time — during the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, as well as No. 22 New Zealand during the Asia Cup qualifiers last November.</p><p>Like Cone said, it would take an upset to finally overcome and exorcise the ghost of Australia. However, this Gilas team has also proven time and again that nothing is impossible.</p><p>“We figured that if we&#x27;re going to do something special in this tournament, you have to go to Australia at some point,” pointed out Cone. “It&#x27;s here in front of us, and we&#x27;re going to do our best and get at them.”</p>

<p>"We figured that if we're going to do something special in this tournament, you have to go to Australia at some point."</p>

"We figured that if we're going to do something special in this tournament, you have to go to Australia at some point."

FIBA: Can Gilas Pilipinas shock the world and exorcise ghost of Australia?

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FIBA: Can Gilas Pilipinas shock the world and exorcise ghost of Australia?

Rom Anzures,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 13, 2025 05:36 PM PHT

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