Gilas Pilipinas stuns world No. 6 Latvia to open Fiba OQT bid

Justin Brownlee leads Gilas Pilipinas’ rout of host Latvia to open the Filipinos’ Fiba OQT campaign. –FIBA PHOTO

Gilas Pilipinas pounced on Latvia’s early shooting woes and played with steely nerves down the stretch to topple World No. 6 and host Latvia, 89-80, in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) on Thursday.

The No. 37-ranked Filipinos, overwhelming underdogs in the short meet at Arena Riga that will send a winner to the Paris Olympics, raced to an 8-0 start and built a sizable cushion that they never yielded until the final horn.

“I’m totally shocked to be sitting in front of you guys after winning this basketball game. This is not something we thought we were gonna do, I’ll be honest with you,” said Gilas coach Tim Cone after the game.

SCHEDULE: Gilas Pilipinas at Fiba OQT in Riga, Latvia

“We wanted to come in and compete and really put on a good show. We got started early. We hit shots early. And thankfully Latvia missed shots.”

The win was the Philippines’ first against any European team in an official Fiba competition since 1960.

Gilas’ naturalized ace Justin Brownlee delivered a near triple-double of 26 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists, while young cornerstones Kai Sotto and Dwight Ramos tossed in 18 and 12 points, respectively.

Barring a massive blowout at the hands of World No. 23 Georgia, the Philippines is on track to advance to the crossover knockout phase which could pit the Filipinos against Cameroon, Brazil, or Montenegro.

READ: Tim Cone dismisses notion that Gilas not big, fast, strong enough

“Gotta credit our guys and their defense, we were doing our best trying to defend everybody, but still, I’ll be honest, I really am shocked to be here,” Cone said.

“But we didn’t come here to win one game. Hopefully, we can move on and get to the next round and have a chance to play Latvia again in the Finals.”

June Mar Fajardo posted 11 points and five rebounds for Gilas  while Chris Newsome scored 10 points, including a couple of late baskets in the final period that kept the Latvians at bay with the results significantly shaking up the Group A race.

Gilas Pilipinas’ Kai Sotto among the top performers against Latvia in the Fiba OQT. –FIBA BASKETBALL

The Latvians, having won 24 of their last 27 Fiba games, were projected to sweep the Fiba OQT preliminaries, but struggled against a determined Gilas side and dropped to 1-1.

It also didn’t help the hosts that their outside shooting abandoned them just as the Filipinos hit theirs. Latvia was 10-for-42 while Gilas wound up 9-of-20 from deep.

“There were a couple of stretches, like Kai said, that we kind of lost our way a little bit but it seems like when Latvia was just about ready to make huge run at us, they would miss an open three-point shot,” Cone said. “And that’s just one of those night for Latvia—they just won’t hit shots tonight.”

📊 26 PTS I 9 REB I 9 AST

Justin Brownlee delivered an extraordinary near triple-double performance vs Latvia, earning TCL Player Of The Game honors!#FIBAOQT pic.twitter.com/JjGsQu1mNe

— FIBA (@FIBA) July 3, 2024

Rodions Kurucs and Rolands Smits joined hands for a last-ditch effort for the Latvians, but the Gilas cushion—which swelled to as big as 26 points—proved too big to overhaul.

Kurucs had 18 points, Davis Bertans, Kristers Zoriks and Janis Strelnieks 10 each while Smits had 9 in the Latvian effort that left many in the home crowd in disbelief.

Gilas Pilipinas and Georgia tangle in 18 hours (8:30 p.m. Manila time) at the same venue.