eGilas captures first eFIBA World Finals title

MANILA, Philippines -- After consecutive fourth-place finishes in the previous two editions of the eFIBA World Finals, eGilas Pilipinas finally broke through, sweeping Turkiye in the grand finals to bag its first world championship in Doha, Qatar.

The Philippine Men's National NBA 2K Team defeated Turkiye, 64-62 and 68-60, in the best-of-three championship series to claim the eFIBA World Finals Season 4 crown and the tournament's $20,000 top prize.

The team -- composed of Miguel Carlo “LGE_miguelcarlo” Hubillar, Chris “LGE_iLuvio-“ Briones, Kenneth “LGE_Clue-“ Gutierrez, Joshua “LGE_JMacc” Machado and Prich “LGE_DonP” Diez -- under coaches Nite Alparas and Anthony De Jesus, put together a dominant tournament run, losing just one game throughout the two-day competition.

eGilas opened its campaign with victories over France (64-53), Algeria (73-52) and Germany (72-45) in the group stage before eliminating Lebanon, 67-58, in the upper bracket semifinals.

The Filipinos faced their toughest challenge against France in the upper bracket finals. After dropping the opener, 52-61, eGilas bounced back with a 63-59 victory before securing a grand finals berth with a hard-fought 67-64 win in the deciding game. By emerging from the upper bracket, eGilas carried a 1-0 series lead into the grand finals, putting the Filipinos two wins away from the championship.

Against Turkiye in the championship round, eGilas survived a tense opening game behind a crucial defensive stop late in the contest to emerge with a 64-62 victory. The Filipinos completed the sweep with a 68-60 triumph to secure their first eFIBA World Championship.

Hubillar was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after leading the Philippines to the championship, while Gutierrez took home Best Defensive Player honors after averaging 3.0 steals per game. Hubillar, Gutierrez and Machado were also selected to the tournament's All-Star Five, alongside France's Mehdi Ben “xMambaOut—“ Sethoum and Turkiye's Mecit Can "CanBoymm" Boy.

The championship completed a steady rise for the Philippine squad on the world stage. eGilas previously finished fourth in the 2023 eFIBA World Finals in Sweden before repeating the result in the 2024 edition held in Clark, Pampanga.