PASAY CITY (Philippines) - New Zealand needed luck to pull off a 69-66 escape act versus the Philippines to break through in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers, Thursday night at the Malll of Asia Arena.
The Tall Blacks almost squandered an 11-point lead when Gilas rallied back and knocked within just two twice inside the final 45.2 seconds behind Dwight Ramos, but did well enough to keep the home team at bay.
Yanni Wetzell came through with a tough cleanup undeeneath to push their lead to 68-64, before Reuben Te Rangi split his foul shots to widen the gap to three as a response to Ramos' putback in the possession prior.
The Filipino dribblers had the chance to tie the game but Ramos' heave from way beyond the three-point line missed, and the visitors could only breathe a huge sigh of relief after successfully averting disaster.
We hope you didn't miss Tyrell Harrison's dunk by the way.
Key players
Max Darling top-scored for New Zealand with 11 points, with Sam Mennenga delivering a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds. Alex McNaught provided the surprise spark with 10 points behind three triples.
Turning point
Mennenga himself was responsible in pushing their lead to 63-53 early in the final period but no breakaway happened whatsoever as Ramos triggered a scoring spree that put Gilas back in the game
With CJ Perez, Quentin Millora-Brown, and defensive ace AJ Edu helping him out, the Philippines put together an 11-3 rally to come within just a field goal, 66-64, thus setting up the tight finish.
Bottom line
New Zealand finally broke through into the win column of Group A and by doing so, they denied the Philippines from booking an early trip to the Second Round, giving the latter as well their first loss after a 2-0 start.
*This article will be updated shortly.
FIBA