Gilas Pilipinas advances to the semifinals of the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament despite losing to Georgia, 96-94, on Wednesday, July 4, in Riga, Latvia.
Justin Brownlee scored 28 points and Dwight Ramos added 16 points to fuel the second-half comeback of the Philippine national men's basketball team.
The Philippines trailed throughout the first half of the game after Georgia scored the first 16 points of the match.
A three-point basket by Joe Thomasson put Georgia up by 20 points, 40-20, but Gilas Pilipinas responded with an 11-point run to cut the deficit to nine.
The Filipinos grabbed their first lead in the game, 71-70, after Dwight Ramos buried a pair of charities.
Baskets by Alexander Mamukelashvili and Duda Sanadze allowed Georgia to take the lead for good, 88-81, but the Filipinos remained defiant until the last second.
Gilas Pilipinas even managed to close the gap, 90-89, after CJ Perez buried back-to-back three-point baskets.
Both the Philippines and Georgia finished the group stage with a 1-1 win-loss record but the Filipinos earned the semifinals spot due to point difference.
Prior to the game, Gilas Pilipinas bested Latvia, 89-80, while Georgia fell to the host team, 83-55.
The Filipinos will seek to keep their Olympic dreams alive when they face Brazil, which also has a 1-1 win-loss record in the group stage, in the semifinals on Saturday, July 6.
