MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone convinced his wards on the eve of their battle against Latvia that a possible loss to the vaunted world No. 6 squad should not dim their hopes of ruling the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
“We’re not here to win a game. We’re here to win a tournament, to win the whole thing,” said Cone.
But the Nationals no longer need to think that it’s an improbable task as they shocked the Latvians on the road, pulling off a colossal 89-80 upset at the Arena Riga on Wednesday, July 3 (Thursday, July 4, Manila time), to boost their chances of advancing to the knockout stage.
Justin Brownlee, who has delivered countless times for Cone since he started reinforcing Barangay Ginebra in the PBA in 2016, came through once more with a near triple-double showing of 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Brownlee hit timely buckets down the stretch to give the Philippines enough breathing room as they held off the Latvians’ fourth-quarter comeback to improve to 1-0 in Group A.
Latvia cut a deficit as huge as 26 points, 74-48, to just 10 points midway through the final period, 81-71, before Brownlee restored order by completing a booming four-point play for an 85-71 cushion with 3:30 minutes remaining.
It was a lead big enough to stave off Latvia, which never saw the loss coming, specially after it gave Georgia an 83-55 beating in its first game.
Kai Sotto backstopped Brownlee with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go with 8 rebounds as the Philippines beat a European team in an official FIBA competition for the first time in over six decades, or since it hacked out an 84-82 escape over Spain in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
“I’m totally shocked to be sitting in front of you guys after winning this basketball game,” said Cone during the post-game press conference. “This is not something we thought we’re going to do, I’ll be honest with you.”
Philippines 89 – Brownlee 26, Sotto 18, Ramos 12, Fajardo 11, Newsome 10, Perez 6, Quiambao 3, Aguilar 2, Tamayo 1, Oftana 0.
Latvia 80 – Kurucs 18, Dav. Bertans 10, Strelnieks 10, Zoriks 10, Smits 9, Lomazs 6, Strautins 6, Dai. Bertans 5, Timma 3, Cavars 2, Mejeris 1.
Quarters: 32-16, 54-38, 77-56, 89-80.
– Rappler.com
