Gilas Pilipinas knew the Australian Boomers were coming. What they didn’t see coming was a first-quarter blitz of long-range bombs—seven of them—that turned the quarterfinal showdown into a rout before the dust even settled.
The Boomers unloaded a scorching three-point barrage in the opening period, hitting 7 of their 11 total triples for the night and digging a 29-12 crater that Gilas would spend the rest of the game trying—and failing—to escape. Jaylin Galloway lit the fuse to three of those early cannonballs, and by halftime, the Aussies were up by 20 and already thinking ahead.
Final score: 84-60.
But the real verdict came after the first 10 minutes. It’s hard to win a street fight when the other side’s dropping missiles from orbit.
To their credit, Gilas Pilipinas players didn’t fold. They clawed their way back into relevance in the third quarter, even outscoring the Aussies 22-21. Kevin Quiambao, the young buck with the sweet shooting stroke, buried five triples in the game and finished with 17 points. But by then, the Boomers had long since slammed the door.
This was an Aussie masterclass. Galloway and Stephen Owen Foxwell led the charge with 15 points apiece, and the Boomers’ defense tightened its grip—especially on Justin Brownlee, who just days earlier drilled the game-tying three against Saudi Arabia. This time, he barely found air and only tallied 10 points—making only 1 of the 3 triples he attempted.
Australia dominated the stat sheet: 20 second-chance points, 9 on the break. Gilas? Zero on the run. Ten on the scraps.
Gilas Pilipinas dropped its first two games in this year’s FIBA Asia Cup—falling to Chinese Taipei and New Zealand—before finding its footing with back-to-back wins over Middle Eastern squads Saudi Arabia and Iraq. But just as momentum began to build, a ruthless Australian squad grounded Gilas’ run somewhere along the Great Barrier Reef.
Next up for the Boomers: a semifinal date with either Chinese Taipei or Iran.
