THE Gilas Pilipinas’ preparation for the upcoming FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) is off to a good start, as they defeated the Taiwan Mustangs 74-64 in an exhibition game last Monday night.
Gilas relied on Dwight Ramos and Justin Brownlee for a third-quarter run that energized the entire team to secure the victory. They contributed to the Philippines’ 21-12 victory over the Mustangs in the same quarter.
The first half of the game was as intense as it could be. Gilas led by six at the end of the first quarter, thanks to a half-court buzzer-beating basket by Carl Tamayo that put the home team up 25-19.
The Taiwanese squad was able to inch closer at the end of the second quarter, pulling down the lead to 32-37. Not before Gilas started hitting their shots, especially from behind the arc.
Gilas head coach Tim Cone underlined that the major goal of the send-off exhibition game was for the national team to develop qualities that would help them in the OQT.
“We were not concerned of winning or losing a basketball game, but we wanted to play a certain style of basketball,” said Cone during the post game interview.
“We worked hard on the defensive side… This is exactly what we needed, we wanted [this friendly] to be hard, we did not want it to be easy. If it was easy, it was not going to help us,” he added.
Photo Courtesy: FIBA
When asked about the team’s situation after Scottie Thompson was ruled out of the competition, Cone believes Gilas is still competitive despite losing a major player.
“We are going 11 strong. I don’t feel we are shorthanded at all. I’m not a guy who plays 11, 12 guys anyway. You know me? I don’t play that many guys. I’m nearly eight or nine-man rotation,” said Cone.
“The reason you have 12 guys isn’t necessarily for the game, you have 12 guys in practice or in case somebody goes down. I don’t feel shorthanded at all.”
“However, I do really, really miss Scottie. You all know how much I rely on Scottie. He is such an infectious player. He infects the guys around him. He does all the things that don’t show up on the scorecard,” he added.
Despite Thompson’s absence, Gilas was able to rely on Ramos, who finished with 19 points, four steals, and three rebounds while shooting 7-of-11 from the field. Brownlee contributed a vintage 12 points and 15 assists.
Oscar Lopez led the Taiwan Mustangs with 15 points, while Alex Cabagnot and Rashawn McCarthy added 13 and 12 points, respectively. They’ll compete in The Asian Tournament alongside Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins, and Quinn Cook.
While the Gilas Pilipinas will go to Europe for two friendly matches against Turkey and Poland on June 28 and 30, respectively. This will prepare students for the OQT in Riga, Latvia, on July 4.
