The Gilas men’s 3×3 team eked out a thrilling 15-14 win over Kazakhstan to reach the quarterfinals of the 2023 Asian Games on Saturday, September 30, at the Deqing Geographic Information Park Basketball Court.

John Ray Pasaol led the Philippine quartet with five points including a driving basket with 20 seconds to play that gave the team a 15-13 edge.

Ramazan Samsin made it a 15-14 contest later, before a Justin Sanchez turnover opened the door for the Kazakhs to turn the outcome around.

But Bogdan Rabchenyuk missed a potential game-winning deuce as JB Sajonia secured the rebound and preserved the win for the Filipinos.

Bismarck Lina and Sanchez had four points apiece, while Sajonia had two to round up the scoring for Gilas, which fell in the classification for quarterfinals after losing its final game in the group stage against Mongolia.

The Filipinos now face South Korea in the knockout stage set late Saturday night.

Other quarterfinal pairings will have Mongolia going up against Iran, Qatar opposite Japan, and host China meeting Chinese Taipei.

Mongolia, Qatar, China, and Korea all earned outright quarterfinal berths, while Iran, Japan, and Chinese Taipei all had to go through the classification for quarterfinals to advance just like the Philippines.

Iran turned back India, 19-17, Japan routed Macao, 21-12, and Chinese Taipei edged Indonesia, 19-17.