Two moments decided a wild night at the Mall of Asia Arena. Kevin Quiambao brought the noise with a pair of poster dunks, and Kai Sotto brought the finish with a block at the death, carrying the Philippines past Jordan 82-81 in overtime Friday, August 28.

The result snapped a four-game losing run in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers. It also handed Gilas Pilipinas their first win since a two-game sweep of Guam in Window 1 last November.

Getting there was anything but tidy. The Falcons opened on a 26-8 tear and looked ready to turn the contest into a rout.

Quiambao Rises as Tamayo Exits

The comeback had to be built without one of its expected pieces. Carl Tamayo went down with an ankle injury early in the third quarter, leaving a hole in the rotation at the worst possible time.

Quiambao filled it. The winger finished with 14 points, and two of them came on dunks that lifted the arena off its seats.

Those plays did more than decorate a box score. They flipped the mood of a crowd that had spent the opening quarter watching Jordan pull away.

CJ Perez carried the other half of the reversal. He ended the night with 16 points, four of them in a row to force the extra period.

In overtime, he kept going. Perez capped his shift with the assist that found “KQ” for the go-ahead trifecta.

Sotto’s Block Ends Gilas Skid

Sotto was playing his first game with the men’s team in almost two full years. He looked the part, posting 18 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots as the Philippines clawed their way back into the contest.

The second of those blocks was the one that mattered. Abdullah Olajuwon drove for a layup that would have stolen the win with time almost gone, and the big man arrived in time to swat it away.

The stop preserved his own performance and the work of his teammates. It also kept the Philippines’ pursuit of a place in Qatar next year alive.

There was a wider verdict, too. The finish turned the fixture into one of Window 4’s standout games so far.