The energy was high at King Abdullah Sports City, as Group D action in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup ramped up to the next level.
The Tall Blacks charging into their next challenge following a commanding 100–78 win over Iraq, but standing in their way a hungry Philippines squad, still hurting from a narrow eight-point loss to Chinese Taipei and looking to notch up their first win of the tournament.
With plenty of noise and Filipino flags flying high in the crowd, the intensity from the get go was set, and we were in for what had the potential to be one of the tournament’s best games to date.
With pride, redemption, and an unbeaten start to the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup on the line, the Tall Blacks were ready and rearing to get underway.
The intensity in the air was palpable from the moment the ball was tossed into the air at mid-court. The Philippines June Fajardo scored the first points of the game, before Justin Brownlee added another two.
Taylor Britt’s driving lay-in got the Tall Blacks on the board before skipper, Jordan Ngatai knocked down two corner triples to give the Kiwi’s the early 10-8 advantage half way through the first.
Ngatai continued to keep the ball ticking over, knocking down his third field goal of the evening on a nice post hook.
Justin Brownlee brought up eight points in the quarter for Gilas, before Flynn Cameron got to the bucket with ease for his first points of the night. He added three more off a broken possession, before Jordan Ngatai reached double digits with and and-one, giving the Tall Blacks a nine-point lead.
A pair of Carl Tamayo free throws and a Chris Newsome bucket with time expiring saw the Philippines close the gap to five at the end of a rampant first quarter.
Kevin Quiambao knocked down a heavily contested triple to open the second, much to the delight of the loud and raucous Filipino crowd.
The Tall Blacks captain didn’t seem to let the quarter break slow him down, as he got right back to the cup, earning another pair of free throws. Before knocking down his third triple and fourth triples of the night on back-to-back possessions, and securing the first double digit lead of the game.
The Philippines looked to surmount a small comeback, but that was until Mojave King threw down what could be one of the best posterisers of the tournament so far, following not too long after by Flynn Cameron’s second triple of the night.
King added another lay-in and a triple to his tally, making it seven quick points for him, before Jack Andrew knocked down a corner triple and extending the Tall Blacks first half lead out to a whopping 18 points.
The Philippines tacked on four points towards the end of the second to close the gap ever so slightly, but the Tall Blacks with an impressive 55-41 lead would have the buffer heading into the second half of action in Jeddah.
Captain Ngatai leading the way with a perfect half from the field scoring 19 points (6/6 FG, 4/4 3PM, 2/2 FT) with Flynn Cameron adding a valuable 10 points and 2 assists off the bench.
As he did in the first quarter, June Farjardo got the game restarted, before Mo King answered right back.
Dwight Ramos and Justin Brownlee hit triples, despite some great hands up defence from King, and the lead was cut to 10. Brownlee now ticking over 20 points for the Philippines, as he looked to get them back into the game.
Ramos got to the cup and finished the deuce, bringing Gilas back within single digit for the first time in what would’ve felt like ever for their adoring fans, now erupting with joy.
Tohi Smith-Milner triple and Flynn Cameron pull-up jumper, restored the Tall Blacks double digit lead.
Ramos became the second Filipino in double digits, knocking down back-to-back buckets, once again cutting the lead to single digits. Brownlee knocked down a triple, and cut it to four.
Suddenly, the Gilas fans were the loudest they’d been all night long, willing their team to continue their fight back into this one.
Taylor Britt’s bucket on the buzzer of the third quarter gave the Tall Blacks a six-point buffer heading into the fourth, with the Philippines nipping at their heels.
Max Darling knocked down a triple to start the final quarter, before scoring his fifth point in a row with a nice bucket down low.
A pair of Britt free throw took the lead back out to eleven for the Kiwi’s, as they looked to continue to put the foot down.
Brownlee got the Philippines going again from deep, but captain Ngatai answered straight back with his fifth of the night.
The Philippines then turned it up again.
Ramos scoring four straight, before Brownlee knocked down yet another triple, cutting it to a one possession game.
Taylor Britt up to the task and ready to fight right back. Scoring four straight to extend the lead back out to seven and bring his tally to 17 on the night.
His sweet euro-step lay in with under 30 seconds to go in the fourth would be the icing on the cake, as the Tall Blacks would hold on and go two from two at the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
An incredible game, one where it’s very fair to say both teams left everything out on the floor. The atmosphere was electric, with the Tall Blacks standing strong and leaving King Abdullah Sports City with a well deserved win.
It marks the Tall Blacks second win in a row against the Philippines following on from their win over Gilas at Spark Arena during the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifying window in February.
“I think I said it in my last press conference, that this game was going to have a fun atmosphere tonight with the Filipinos coming out in numbers. We played them in Auckland back in February and they packed out the stadium and it was another fun atmosphere.”
Coach Judd Flavell reminiscing on that loud Spark Arena crowd, and happy with the Tall Blacks performance in tonight’s game and what this win does for the team heading into the remainder of the Asia Cup.
“These are the types of games that are going to help us prepare for what lies ahead, because every game from here on in is going to be just as hard, if not harder.
I was just really happy with our group and the way they held up physically. The Filipinos are a big team and physical and I guess one of the key stats we really targeted going into this game was rebounding. We won the rebounding side 41 to 33, so that was a great indicator of where the game was won.
So very happy with the result and the way we went about it. Yeah, it was an enjoyable and atmosphere.”
Captain and TCL Player of the Game, Jordan Ngatai, led the team in fine fashion tonight. His 19 points on a perfect 6/6 from the field in the first half and real highlight of the night for fans of both sides.
“Credit to the Filipino team, they’re a tough team. We never came into this game underestimating them, and I felt like if we did, it would’ve been a completely different story.”
The New Zealand captain also beaming with pride with the way his team stuck together in a hostile environment.
“We didn’t back down. We took it to them and guys stepped up and made big plays. Everyone that stepped onto the court made big plays one way or another.”
The Tall Blacks final pool play match-up against Chinese Taipei in two days time is set up to be a battle for first place in Group D.
Coach Flavell not taking his mind off his team’s next task.
“We’re not taking our eyes off Chinese Taipei. They’re our next opponent and same as we did with the Philippines we give them full respect.
First thing is just to get the boys through the recovery and decompress after this game. Like I said to them it’s going to take a while to come down from that game because of the nature of the game and the atmosphere.
But yeah, Chinese Taipei, very good coach and they’ve got all the piece to go a long way.”
The Tall Blacks will take on Chinese Taipei on Sunday morning, 6am NZT.
Tall Blacks 94 (Ngatai 22p, 5 3PM, 7/8 FG, Britt 19p, 7a, Cameron 12p, Gold 6p, 11r) defeat the Philippines 86 (Brownlee 37p, 5r, Ramos 17p).
