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| Juan Gomez De Liaño showed why he is fast becoming a premier PBA point guard with his clutch efforts to give Gilas a chance to win in New Zealand. Dennis Acosta |
MANILA—In a 50-minute game where Justin Brownlee was held to just five points on three shots, Juan Gomez De Liaño came to the rescue for Gilas Pilipinas.
The Converge combo guard showed heart for the Nationals in their FIBA World Cup Qualifiers match against New Zealand at the Spark Arena in Auckland, nearly staggering the Tall Blacks with two threes in the clutch.
The first one came with 11.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter when he hit a stop-and-pop shot from the right wing that eventually forced overtime at 83-all.
From almost the same spot, Gomez De Liaño hit another clutch triple with 8.3 seconds left in the first overtime period, which could have won it for Gilas if not for a costly Dwight Ramos foul later on that led to Shea Ili's free throws that forced the second overtime.
Gilas lost steam in the second extension as Gomez De Liaño gave up a bad inbound pass that led to a Carlin Davison steal, which set up dagger free throws from Ili and Jordan Ngatai.
Despite the defeat that made things tougher for Gilas in its FIBA World Cup bid, coach Tim Cone lauded Gomez De Liaño's efforts as the veteran tactician sees the former Lithuanian league and KBL standout as potentially among the new gold standards in quarterbacking PBA-wise.
"Juan is becoming one of the premier point guards in our league back in Manila," Cone, the concurrent gaffer of recently crowned PBA Commissioner's Cup champion Ginebra, said.
He also gave his props to the KBL duo of Kevin Quiambao and Carl Tamayo for stepping up.
Aside from also tallying 23 points in the game, Quiambao, like Gomez De Liaño, had his clutch moment too when he hit a teardrop that forced the last deadlock at 102-all with 32.7 seconds remaining.
A putback from Sam Mennenga, though, canceled out the Goyang super rookie's shot and put New Zealand back up for good.
Tamayo, who has become a franchise player for 2025 national champ Changwon, also did a splendid job in keeping Gilas afloat in regulation despite the Tall Blacks' threats to pull away.
"They both play in Korea, so they get a lot of improvement there," Cone further said, taking note of how the brand of play in the KBL has helped the former high school teammates grow professionally.
Cone also said that Gomez De Liaño, Quiambao, and Tamayo's impressive outing was proof of how effective his decision to keep the Gilas pool as small as possible was.
"That's how you evolve a team. You try to win with your veterans, and you develop your young guys," Cone continued, adding that they have kept on improving every FIBA window.
He further said, "That was the vision from the very beginning when we put this team together: that they at one point would be the main guys," also expressing amazement that they have become key contributors quicker than he thought.
Regardless of what happens in Gilas' quest to make the FIBA World Cup for the fourth straight time, Cone sees a bright future ahead for the national team with Gomez De Liaño, Quiambao, and Tamayo leading the way.
"They have great futures ahead of them," Cone further said.
Gomez De Liaño, Quiambao, and Tamayo combined for 63 of Gilas' 102 points on Friday night and, along with Ramos, were the only players in double figures.
