ALL eyes were on Justin Brownlee entering the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament semifinals, and Brazil certainly took note.

With the Gilas Pilipinas star putting up averages of 27.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.5 assists entering the semifinals, Brazil hounded him all night long as the Philippines’ hope for an Olympic run came to a crashing end with a 71-60 loss on Saturday night in Riga, Latvia.

The brilliant Filipino-American was limited to just 15 points on 5-16 shooting, while also committing three turnovers against just two assists.

Guys like Georginho de Paula, Leo Meindl, and Lucas Dias all took turns in containing the Ginebra star, playing physical on him from the get-go and limiting him to just three points in the final 20 minutes.

De Paula shared how they really had Brownlee on their mind entering this game.

“We had a talk with our coach yesterday about Brownlee. He told us to stop him because he’d really shoot the ball 20 times a game, but we have to cut his percentage to below 48 percent because he was really shooting the ball really well,” de Paula said.

With coach Tim Cone shocking the world with his signature triangle offense – and Brownlee thriving in it – Brazil really took the time to scout how Brownlee moves within the offense, and it paid off as the naturalized Filipino was hounded the entire game.

“They were playing the triangle offense, we knew how they moved, we were just following him. Wherever he goes we were there so I think we did a great job,” he added.

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Dias The Hero For Brazil In The Second Half

With Brazil’s wings thoroughly defending Brownlee, coach Cone decided to go small by putting him on the four in the hopes of getting a bigger defender on his star.

But Brazil coach Aleksandar Petrovic was happy to see his four-guy in Dias step up to the plate, moving his feet while playing excellent coverage on Brownlee as the Philippines tried to mount a comeback late in the second half.

Dias also hit some big shots everytime Gilas started picking up steam, and finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

“Lucas Dias (was excellent), we moved him when Philippines played Brownlee on the four spot, we moved other guys on the perimeter because we’d like to continue our defense on Brownlee,” Petrovic said.

“With the Philippines just scoring 60 points, I believe we really did a good job this game.”