Double overtime slips away

MANILA, Philippines — It was madness in Auckland.

Rugged host New Zealand stifled Justin Brownlee all throughout and forced Gilas Pilipinas to try to win this FIBA World Cup Qualifiers Group A match with its go-to-guy virtually a non-factor.

For 50 grueling minutes, the Nationals proved they’re up to the task, going toe-to-toe against a Tall Blacks crew that was relentless in bodying them up, disrupting their flow and punishing their mistakes.

But in the end, the Kiwis delivered when it mattered, forcing themselves to a thrilling 106-102 double-overtime victory and leaving Gilas and its loud Pinoy supporters at the sold-out Spark Arena in Auckland heartbroken.

And the Filipinos were left to rue the costly miscues at the most crucial times and the failure to close it out despite taking a 77-70 lead in the last 4:55 of regulation, a 90-87 cushion in the last 1:02 of the first extra period and a 100-96 edge in the last two minutes of the second OT.

“It would have been nice to be able to come down here and steal a game, that would have been special,” said Gilas coach Tim Cone, whose wards committed 20 turnovers, leading to 25 easy points for NZ.

“The fact that we got as close as we did, obviously it’s a huge disappointment. You feel like it’s in your grasp and you let it slip away and that makes it tough. We had chances in regulation and overtime to win that basketball game and we just came up short,” he added.

The heartbreaker in chilly Auckland marked Gilas’ third straight loss in the first round of the Qualifiers after a two-game sweep of Guam. Still, the Nationals seven-point card is enough to send them to Round 2 with still one road game left in the opening round on Monday against Australia.

Hounded by NZ defenders led by Carlin Davison and Jordan Ngatai, Brownlee managed only five points on a 2-of-3 shooting clip. He was scoreless until the 2:35 mark of the first overtime when he forced an 87-87 count with a layup. He made a triple on a rare open situation in OT No. 2, giving Gilas a 100-96 upperhand.

Juan Gomez de Liaño (23), Kevin Quiambao (23), Dwight Ramos (18) and Carl Tamayo (17) took the scoring cudgels.

“Bottom line was our guys came to play. They expended an incredible amount of energy just staying in the game. We went down by 12 and battled back, got ahead by seven but again we just couldn’t hold it, we missed some free throws…and that was really the story of the game,” said Cone.