San Antonio mainstay in the NBA Jeremy Sochan (left) tries to dribble past Justin Brownlee in late second half action. —PHOTO COURTESY OF POLAND BASKETBALL FEDERATION
Gilas Pilipinas spent little time ruing another narrow loss in its preparations geared toward the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Latvia.
“Now the real fight begins,” national coach Tim Cone wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday noon (Manila time), swiftly putting behind an 82-80 loss at the hands of World No. 15 Poland which is also preparing its own OQT that will be held in Valencia, Spain.
The Nationals looked poised for a good outing at Sosnowiec Arena on early Sunday, thanks to a balanced attack led by Justin Brownlee, Dwight Ramos, June Mar Fajardo and Kai Sotto.
But miscues in the second period allowed the Poles to mount a fightback. The hosts held on and kept their poise in the final period, dousing Gilas’ spirited tries at a comeback and ultimately denying the Filipinos a chance at pocketing a morale-boosting win right before it plunges into the OQT in Riga.
Brownlee had 30 points to lead Gilas anew. He also starred in the loss to Turkey two nights ago. Ramos, meanwhile, added 16.
The Philippines actually enjoyed a nine-point edge in the first half before falling prey to disjointed play in the third period that had Cone fuming in one of the time-outs.
Cone being livid
“We’re not even trying anymore,” the seasoned mentor, livid, could be heard saying during the broadcast. “This isn’t about ‘Hey, yeah! Let’s go! Let’s go!’ That’s bulls**t. It’s about fu***ng doing your job, fellas!”
“We look like an Asian team right now. We look like a team who are playing Asia—and not European,” he added. “[I]f we’re gonna fu***ng play like sh**, we have no fu***ng chance. Get your head out your a** and let’s start playing!”
Gilas smoothened the gaps after that tongue-lashing, with Brownlee and Ramos joining hands in turning a 13-point hole to just a five-point deficit, 82-77, with 1:43 remaining.
The Nationals, however, couldn’t make the most out of the time left to complete a turnaround against the Jeremy Sochan-led Poles as Chris Newsome’s freebie and CJ Perez’ layup both came a little too late.
The Philippines thus settled for a 1-2 win-loss record in its preparatory games, the lone victory at the expense of club team Taiwan Mustangs. Capable
The Inquirer reached out to Cone just before the Philippine contingent left for Riga on Sunday, but the decorated mentor has yet to respond as of press time.
While moral victories don’t count for Cone and the rest of the Gilas brain trust, the gallant stand against Poland can still give the Nationals a good indication of their capabilities ahead of the tall task in Riga where World No. 6 Latvia and No. 23-ranked Georgia await.
The Philippines lost to Poland by just two points. And that should be an achievement in itself considering how the Poles handily beat New Zealand in an earlier friendly, where they won by 29 points.
While pulling off a stunner in Riga may be difficult, Cone has repeatedly said that it won’t be impossible.
“I keep saying, it’s not impossible. It’s tough, sure. It’s always tough for us, but I feel we haven’t brought a team like this in OQT before,” he said. INQ