Kai Sotto. Photo: FIBA
It took just eight months for Gilas Pilipinas to add another compelling chapter to this basketball-crazed country’s rich history.
In less than 24 hours, the team made sure to keep adding to the story.
The Philippines unearthed a semifinal spot in defeat after a 96-94 loss to Georgia late Thursday evening extended its run in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Latvia.
After winning the Asian Games gold for the first time in six decades last October, Gilas Pilipinas notched a milestone with an 89-80 victory over world No. 6 and host Latvia in a Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) early Thursday morning, marking the first time the country defeated a European squad in 64 years. But as national coach Tim Cone insisted, the Philippines is in Riga, the Latvian capital, not just for the footnotes.
“[W]e’re not here to just win one game,” he said after the win over Latvia.
The Filipinos, indeed, nearly made it two-in-a-row against European countries. They battled back from a 20-point deficit and took leads late in the game before yielding to the No. 23-ranked country in the Fiba ladder. Still, the world No. 37 shut the door on Georgia as it carried—and eventually protected—a plus-18 quotient that ushered the Philippines to the semifinals and within two wins of a spot in the Paris Olympics.
“We really want to try and get to the finals and see what would happen if we get to the finals. That’s really the goal,” Cone said. The Philippines hasn’t played Olympic basketball since the Munich edition of the Summer Games in 1972. Twelve years before that last appearance, the Filipinos scored an 84-82 victory over Spain in the preliminary round of basketball competitions in the Rome Olympiad.
Brownlee shines anew
The Philippines had not beaten a European team since then, until Thursday’s wire-to-wire conquest of the Latvians. And Cone said his charges were hell-bent on making sure that win won’t be the highlight of this tournament.
Justin Brownlee had 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to lead Gilas again against Georgia at Arena Riga.
Dwight Ramos and CJ Perez chipped in 16 and 14 points, respectively.
The Georgians, anchored by NBA big men Sandro Mamukelashvili and Goga Bitadze, looked on track for a final four berth thanks to a blistering start built on pinpoint shooting.
But they fumbled their chance in the third period when they had little answers against cutthroat fightback led by Perez and youngster Carl Tamayo, who chipped in seven in the surge. Gilas managed to do well despite not having Kai Sotto, who hurt his right rib in the first half, and will now move to face either Brazil or Cameroon in the semifinals. Sotto was crucial in that huge upset of Latvia, scoring 18 points.
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Georgia found itself in a bind even before the clash against the Philippines, needing to beat Gilas by 19 or more following an 83-55 massacre at the hands of Latvia two days ago.