CLARK CITY (Philippines) - Dwight Ramos best summarized the forty minutes of regulation time played between the Philippines and Korea in their first FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers clash.

"That game was just," Ramos said to start the post-game press conference. "It was crazy."

"It's just one of the craziest games I've ever played in."

"There's always going to be a question about can our talents can stand up to an opponent's talents... but not their heart and not their desire to fight."

This was expected to be an intense game. It always was.

These were the two highest-ranked teams in Group A of the Qualifiers according to the FIBA World Ranking presented by Nike. They recently played in the World Cup. Both regularly contend for the Asia Cup title. Simply put, they were arguably the two best teams in the group.

They were both undefeated so far as well in Qualifiers play and with both direct Asia Cup qualification tickets still up for grabs, a win here would certainly have given the victor a huge advantage in being the first to secure it.

Add in the factor of these two teams having a long history of playing close games against each other and you can see why it was expected that it was going to be intense right from tipoff.

However, it was Korea who was first to push the tempo and that threw the coach Tab Baldwin's young Gilas Pilipinas squad a bit off the tracks.

"I would probably characterize that game as we were shocked at the beginning of the game with the physicality of Korea and it gave us a hard time," Baldwin said. "And we didn't have a good first quarter."

"Definitely, it was a wake-up call for me, just the physicality of their players. They really pressured up on me and I just don't think I was ready for that," Ramos added.

Korea went off to a 21-12 lead in the first quarter and continued to build up that lead in the first half. The Philippines had fallen prey to that physical defense and were forced into turnovers while also struggling to stop the hot-handed shooting of their opponents.

Whether it was that the Philippines were playing at home in this bubble or the usual never-say-die demeanor of the Philippines national team, it always felt as if they still had another run left in them even as the lead ballooned to as much as 17 points.

They gradually chipped away into Korea's lead, bit by bit, and by the tail end of the third quarter, the score was tied.

"We talked about it and we started grinding and we started trying to respond to the physicality and trying to hold our own," Baldwin said of their midgame adjustments.

"I think that once we adjusted to the physicality and we realized that was all there was, there was no malice and there was no animosity, we just had to respond with our own form of physicality. Once we made that adjustment, then it was our guys that were probably the tougher team on the court and we started to balance the score."

Ramos had made turnovers early in the game and struggled to get the offense going as the point guard. It was also Ramos that was quick to adjust and spark the run to tie the game.

"I just kinda adjusted a little bit, tried to protect the ball a little bit more. It was definitely a wake-up call for me," Ramos said.

Getting back into the game was just only the first part of the hurdle for the Philippines.

Digging themselves out of the 17-point hole was quite an achievement, but it now only meant that they were back at square one against an opponent that arguably had the advantage with their experience.

The rivals traded blows back and forth and with 3 minutes left in the game, Ra GunA put the game in a deadlock at 70-70 on a mid-range jumper. One turnover and a missed layup later, the Philippines suddenly found themselves down by five after falling on the wrong end of a 9-0 run.

Factoring the time left until the final buzzer, that five-point deficit might have even felt larger than the one they found themselves in earlier in the game.

But the Philippines still had some energy left in themselves.

"I have to give credit to the boys on the team as well for their fitness work, because I think Korea [got] tired and I think a little bit of their physicality and intensity wasn't there as much in the later stages of the game as it was in the early stages of the game," Baldwin assessed.

The Philippines youngsters attacked Korea's defense, drew fouls, made free-throws, and responded with an explosive 8-0 run of their own.

Capping off that run was a physical basket on an offensive rebound where Gilas debutant Ange Kuoame got the hoop and the harm before erupting with an emotional roar.

With just 10 seconds left in the game and the score at 78-75, Kuoame had a chance to make it a two-possession game with this bonus shot at the charity stripe.

The big man had been having a good game so far in his debut. He had 12 points with six rebounds and provided the size to help slow down GunA as much as possible.

"Ange [Kuoame] did what he's been doing a lot of," Baldwin said of his center's debut game. "He's been rebounding the ball well, he got a big block in the fourth quarter, he intimated shots around the rim."

"I think the one thing that we did see from Ange is his improved perimeter shooting. He hit three threes in the game and he works hard on his three-point shooting and hopefully, we're going to see a lot more of that."

At this moment, in particular, Kuoame had the chance to show his midrange shooting from the charity stripe to ice the game for the Philippines.

He wound up, lifted his knees, released the ball… and it clanged off the rim.

The game had been lulled into a trance during the free-throw sequence, but once GunA grabbed the rebound, Korea turned on the jets and burst into the open court as time dwindled down to single-digit seconds. They found their 20-year-old blossoming star, Lee HyunJung, in stride streaking to the three-point line who was able to set his feet with six seconds to left.

Kuoame was already sprinting back on defense after his miss and saw as Lee gathered into his shooting motion. The big man pounced in an attempt to block the shot but flew by as Lee pulled off the pump fake.

The youngster wound up once again and drained the three to tie the game with 2.9 seconds left on the game clock.

Visibly frustrated, Kuoame perched his hands on his head as a timeout was called.

"I missed the free throw so I was thinking about if we lose the game, it's going to be my fault," Ange admitted after the game.

"But just quickly a word from coach Tab popped up in my mind."

"Don't think about the last play, the next play is what matters," Kuoame said, quoting Baldwin.

It turns out coach Baldwin was right, as the players on the Philippines national team usually find out eventually. The next play really was what mattered in this game.

Everyone has seen the replay of the final play in the game by now, but coach Baldwin admits that wasn't the execution he had planned out.

"It was multi optional, but the primary option was to get Carl Tamayo under the basket with the ball on a direct entry pass from Dwight, but they switched Ra onto Carl."

"So Dwight took the first available option which was SJ."

Samjoseph "SJ" Belangel has long been a part of the team program since the youth level. Heading into the bubble in Clark City, he was finally named to the senior team for the first time.

Once it was game time it was revealed that not only would Belangel be making his Gilas debut in this game against Korea, he'd be a starter, too.

The 21-year-old guard had been expecting that he might be a starter in this game, but that didn't mean it would change the way he played.

"For me, my mindset is whether or not I'm in the first five, I'm just going to give my best every time I'm on the court," Belangel said after the game.

The statistical production in his debut confirms that claim as he was solid in 23 minutes of action, recording 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Aside from being the first five, he was also now the last five on the court in regulation, receiving the inbounds pass from Ramos. He streaked from the baseline and curled along the three-point arc.

After two dribbles, Belangel swiveled into shot motion which sent his defender Lee SeoungHyun up in the air. He later revealed that he's practiced many three-pointers of the pivot, off the pump-fake, but never off of one leg as he was about to take.

The ball then soared into the air with Belangel's release. Right after the buzzer sounded coupled with the red flash of the backboard lights to signal the end of the regulation, the shot banked into the net.

It was so close that the referees had to review a replay, but the verdict stood at the end.

The Philippines had come back from down by 17 points to best archnemesis Korea at the buzzer.

"It just goes to show you that small bodies but big hearts still have a place in the game of basketball," Baldwin said in reference of his small-sized backcourt which included Belangel.

"It could have been anybody's game. We were fortunate to win the game and it's going to be a great deal of excitement for these young men, there's no question about that. They'll remember that for a long time," said Baldwin.

"SJ just making a play, it's one of those ones that you see every now and then and everybody enjoys it… except the other team."

The team erupted in celebration after they saw Belangel's shot go in. Once the points were officially tallied, the cheers continued to grow even louder.

They had battled their way back into this game against the odds and now they were rewarded with a hard-earned win.

"I don't think there's any question that these young guys are going to compete. There's always going to be a question about can our talents can stand up to an opponent's talents, can our lack of experience stand up to the experience of another team, but not their heart and not their desire to fight," Baldwin emphasized.

With all of that being said and done, there was only one thing that he and the team regret out of this entire ordeal.

"It's a shame that we didn't have 20,000 people in [Mall of Asia Arena] watching that," Baldwin said. "But you know what we did have? We had a country behind us."

"We could feel that. We could feel how much the country wanted something positive and I think we were all extremely proud to be able to bring them something - surprising - but to be able to bring them something that's going to make the Filipinos around the world happy and it's a great moment for Filipino basketball."

FIBA