GILAS Pilipinas couldn't complete a huge fourth quarter rally and fell against Chinese Taipei, 91-84, for its first loss in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers Thursday night before jampacked crown at the Taipei Heiping basketball gymnasium.
The Filipinos battled their way back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the upper hand on a booming three by the hot-shooting Justine Brownlee, 80-79, with under 3:56 remaining.
But the home team wasn't about to fold up in the face of Gilas' furious run, answering back with a closing 12-4 blast to secure Chinese Taipei's first win over the Philippines in almost a decade.
Ting-Chien Lin and Chun Hsiang Lu highlighted the scoring run with a pair of clutch three pointers, while big man Brandon Gilbeck put the exclamation point to the victory with a thunderous slam in the final 17 seconds.
"I thought the Chinese Taipei team was very impressive. We made a couple of runs at them hoping that they would crack, but they never did," said Gilas coach Tim Cone during the post-game presser.
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"They kept their composure and they kept on making big shots. Very impressive win by them. They were well deserving."
Brownlee kept the Philippine team afloat with a game-high 39 points on an impressive 8-of-11 shooting from three-point range, while adding six rebounds, and eight assists.
But the home just had too many firepower on this night, shooting 15-of-43 from beyond the arc led by Lin and Mohammad Al Bachir Gadiaga with 21 points each, and Lu, who added 18.
The three combined for 11 of the 15 threes by the Chinese Taipei, which last won over the Philippines in the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge in Iran. 87-76.
The home team improved to a 2-3 record for third place in Group B as it remained in the running for a berth in the FIBA Asia Cup tournament proper via the final qualifying tournament.
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Gilbeck, the towering 7-foot naturalized player of Chinese Taipei, finished with eight points and eight rebounds on a near perfect 4-of-5 shooting from the field.
Dwight Ramos finished with 15 points and young big man AJ Edu with 10 and six rebounds for Gilas, which fell to a 4-1 record and is now tied with New Zealand on top of their group.
The Tall Blacks routed Hong Kong on the road, 92-51, also on Thursday.
Nonetheless, both Gilas and New Zealand are already qualified in the FIBA Asia Cup set in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia this August.
Gilas trailed by as many as 13 in the game and played catch up for most of the way.
The Filipinos last held the lead on a Chris Newsome basket, 82-81, with 3:15 to go, before Lin hit a three-pointer to spark the home team' endgame breakaway.
Gilas will next play New Zealand in Auckland on Sunday, while Chinese Taipei travels to Hong Kong to play the home team.(RG)
The scores
Chinese Taipei (91) -- Lin 21, Gadiaga 21, Lu 18, Ma 14, Gilbeck 8, Chen 5, Gao 2, Tseng 2, Liu 0, Chou 0, Lan 0.
Philippines (84) --- Brownlee 39, Ramos 15, Edu 10, Fajardo 9, Newsome 7, Thompson 4, Perez 0, Oftana 0, Tamayo 0.
Quarterscores: 22-20; 47-45: 71-61:91-84.
