New Zealand showed tremendous composure amid Gilas Pilipinas guard Dwight Ramos’ endgame explosion to hack out a pulse-pounding 69-66 win in the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers second window on Thursday before a jampacked crowd at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Ramos buried a clutch triple and, later, an acrobatic shot over a New Zealand defender with 8.1 seconds to go to push the Philippines to within two, 66-68.
The Philippines then, in penalty situations, elected to send Reuben Te Rangi to the free throw line with Calvin Oftana giving up a foul with 7.1 seconds left.
Te Rangi made his first, but missed his second foul throw attempt, as Gilas Pilipinas big man Quentin Millora collared the defensive rebound.
The Fil-American slotman quickly gave the ball to Ramos, who zipped past the halfcourt line, before launching a long three-point attempt, which hit the back side of the ring and bounced off, allowing New Zealand to escape with the win.
The victory was just the Tall Blacks’ first after bowing twice to the Australian Boomers in the first window.
The loss was first for the Philippines in three games.
The home team, however, showed grit and resilience in battling against a very physical New Zeand five.
Naturalized player Justin Brownlee struggled all throughout the game as he finished with just four points, missing all four of his three-point attempts.
Overall, the 37-year-old Brownlee missed eight of his 10 attempts against the Tall Blacks side that prepared well defensively against him.
Brownlee managed to contribute six rebounds and two assists, but accounted for four of the team’s 11 turnovers in the game.
Ramos led Gilas Pilipinas with 16 points but went just 6-of-21 overall, while missing nine of his 10 three-point attempts.
CJ Perez added 15 points and Juan Gomez De Liano scored 10 points, spiked by two threes in his Gilas debut under coach Tim Cone.
Max Darling led New Zealand with 11 points, Sam Mennenga had 10 and 14 boards.
Alex McNaught also scored 10.
The Philippines will try to regroup the for the next few days, before hosting Australia, ranked sixth in the world on Sunday.
The Boomers stayed perfect at Group A after routing winless Guam, 93-89.