Gilas Pilipinas will meet Australia for the first time since the two teams figured in a massive brawl seven years ago after setting up a quarterfinal showdown in the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup following its hard-fought overtime victory over host Saudi Arabia.

Their game is set Wednesday at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City as the two teams will look to focus on getting a spot in the semis rather than dwell on the things that transpired during a World Cup Asian Qualifiers contest in July 2018 at Philippine Arena. that turned too ugly.

READ: Justin Brownlee leads Gilas Pilipinas to Fiba Asia Cup quarterfinals

Several Gilas players engaged in a fistfight with their Aussie counterparts during the third quarter, resulting in ejections. The game ended abruptly due to lack of players on the floor and severe sanctions handed by Fiba.

One of the penalties was the staging of one World Cup Qualifiers home game without fans at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

FILE– A glimpse of the brawl that erupted between Gilas Pilipinas and Australia during the World Cup qualifiers. INQUIRER PHOTO

Then-coach Chot Reyes stepped aside a few weeks after the incident, with Yeng Guiao eventually taking over the Gilas Pilipinas team that would go on to qualify for the 2019 World Cup.

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Some of the principals of that fracas, namely RR Pogoy, Andray Blatche, Jayson Castro, Jio Jalalon and Calvin Abueva for Gilas and Australia’s Daniel Kickert, Chris Goulding, Thon Maker and Nathan Sobey are no longer with their respective teams.

The incident is expected to be the least of the concerns for the two squads, with the tournament now on the business end.

Australia dominated Group A with a perfect 3-0 record after winning by an average margin of 25.7 points, to gain an outright quarters berth.

Jaylin Galloway has been leading the Boomers with 18.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.3 steals.

Gilas, meanwhile, had to bounce back from dropping its first two assignments at the hands of Chinese-Taipei and New Zealand to beat Iraq to close Group D, and overcoming Saudi Arabia in the quarterfinal qualifier.