PH yields to New Zealand’s late burst, absorbs first FIBA Qualifiers loss

Gilas Pilipinas suffered their first defeat as they failed to withstand New Zealand’s fourth quarter surge, 66–69, in the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, February 26.

With the Tall Blacks leading at 46–57 coming to the final frame, Gilas tried a turnaround after a Dwight Ramos and CJ Perez layup to trim their trail by six, 57–63.

Two-point buckets from Quentin Millora-Brown and AJ Edu followed by a Ramos three-pointer whittled Philippines’ deficit down by two with a 64–66 buffer.

Attempting to force overtime, Ramos then fired a layup, topped by an over-the-arc dagger in the final seven seconds — only for it to unfortunately miss.

From there, New Zealand stole the spotlight.

In an interview, Ramos expressed that he tried to bank the clutch three — but his shot just fell off.

"I was trying to bank it in and it just didn't fall," said Ramos.

He also stated that today's game was tough since most of his shots were errant, and now he needs to think about his current mistakes.

"It's kind of tough because I missed a lot of shots. Obviously, I missed the last shot," he said. "Right now, all I can think about is my mistakes. I feel bad but I gotta move on to the next game.”

This marked Philippines’ first defeat in the qualifying stage following a prior rout of Guam in a 95–71 beatdown on December 1, 2025.

The Tim Cone-guided squad, despite the loss, tallied big numbers with Ramos, Perez and Juan Gomez de Liano chipping in 16, 15 and 10 points, respectively.

Gilas Pilipinas will aim for a comeback against Australia on March 1 at the same venue.