Kai Sotto. Photograph: FIBA
It took simply eight months for Gilas Pilipinas so as to add one other compelling chapter to this basketball-crazed nation’s wealthy historical past.
In lower than 24 hours, the crew made certain to maintain including to the story.
The Philippines unearthed a semifinal spot in defeat after a 96-94 loss to Georgia late Thursday night prolonged its run within the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Match (OQT) in Latvia.
After successful the Asian Video games gold for the primary time in six a long time final October, Gilas Pilipinas notched a milestone with an 89-80 victory over world No. 6 and host Latvia in a Fiba Olympic Qualifying Match (OQT) early Thursday morning, marking the primary time the nation defeated a European squad in 64 years. However as nationwide coach Tim Cone insisted, the Philippines is in Riga, the Latvian capital, not only for the footnotes.
“[W]e’re not right here to only win one sport,” he stated after the win over Latvia.
The Filipinos, certainly, practically made it two-in-a-row towards European nations. They battled again from a 20-point deficit and took leads late within the sport earlier than yielding to the No. 23-ranked nation within the Fiba ladder. Nonetheless, the world No. 37 shut the door on Georgia because it carried—and finally protected—a plus-18 quotient that ushered the Philippines to the semifinals and inside two wins of a spot within the Paris Olympics.
“We actually wish to try to get to the finals and see what would occur if we get to the finals. That’s actually the aim,” Cone stated. The Philippines hasn’t performed Olympic basketball for the reason that Munich version of the Summer season Video games in 1972. Twelve years earlier than that final look, the Filipinos scored an 84-82 victory over Spain within the preliminary spherical of basketball competitions within the Rome Olympiad.
Brownlee shines anew
The Philippines had not crushed a European crew since then, till Thursday’s wire-to-wire conquest of the Latvians. And Cone stated his costs had been hell-bent on ensuring that win gained’t be the spotlight of this event.
Justin Brownlee had 28 factors, eight rebounds and eight assists to guide Gilas once more towards Georgia at Enviornment Riga.
Dwight Ramos and CJ Perez chipped in 16 and 14 factors, respectively.
The Georgians, anchored by NBA large males Sandro Mamukelashvili and Goga Bitadze, seemed on observe for a last 4 berth because of a blistering begin constructed on pinpoint taking pictures.
However they fumbled their likelihood within the third interval once they had little solutions towards cutthroat fightback led by Perez and teenager Carl Tamayo, who chipped in seven within the surge. Gilas managed to do effectively regardless of not having Kai Sotto, who damage his proper rib within the first half, and can now transfer to face both Brazil or Cameroon within the semifinals. Sotto was essential in that vast upset of Latvia, scoring 18 factors.
Georgia discovered itself in a bind even earlier than the conflict towards the Philippines, needing to beat Gilas by 19 or extra following an 83-55 bloodbath by the hands of Latvia two days in the past.
