Gilas Pilipinas star Justin Brownlee in action at the 2nd Doha International Cup against Egypt. Photo from Qatar Basketball Federation.Gilas Pilipinas ended its 2nd Doha International Cup campaign with a lone victory in three assignments.
The Nationals fell short of bouncing back from their defeat on Sunday as they were dumped by Egypt, 86-55, during their early Monday morning clash at the QU Sports and Events Complex.
The Tim Cone-coached team previously succumbed to Lebanon, 75-54, and this was less than 24 hours after their 74-71 victory over Qatar. They are now expected to return to the country for a short stay today, and what follows is their trip to Taiwan for their penultimate game in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers February window.
Gilas will be going up against Taiwan on February 20, and they will conclude the Qualifiers on the 23rd when they face New Zealand in a much-anticipated rematch between the two squads.
But before these, the Philippines had a hiccup in the second quarter of their Doha tournament clash against Egypt as they only posted nine markers in that span, and this resulted in them facing a 39-28 halftime deficit.
It was just a 12-point Egypt advantage after the third quarter, a disadvantage that is relatively manageable for the Nationals to crawl back from, but the opposite happened as they eventually only tallied 10 points to Egypt’s 29.
Justin Brownlee posted 18 points (8/14 FGs) with five rebounds and an assist for Gilas, but he was the lone bright spot as the rest of the squad made only a combined 13 of their 43 attempts from the field (30.1%).
The Philippines also only shot 4-of-18 (22%) from three-point range and committed 16 turnovers.
On the other hand, Ehab Amin Saleh led Egypt with 20 points, eight assists, and six rebounds, while providing help for him were Amr Zahran, Youssef Aboushousha, and Omar Oraby who finished with 12, 11, and 10, respectively.
The Scores:
Egypt 86 – Saleh 20, Zahran 12, Aboushousha 11, Orabi 10, Taha Mohamed 8, Mahmoud 7, Abelgawad 5, Metwaly 5, Elmekawi 4, Abdellatif 2, Nasr 2, Shehata 0.
Gilas Pilipinas 55 – Brownlee 18, Tamayo 9, Thompson 6, Edu 6, Ramos 6, Fajardo 5, Quiambao 3, Perez 1, Newsome 1, Malonzo 0, Amos 0, Oftana 0.
Quarterscores: 18-19: 39-28; 57-45; 86-55.