TIM Cone rued Gilas Pilipinas' late lapses in a heartbreaking double overtime loss at New Zealand, 106-102, Friday at the start of the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
Several times, the Filipinos had the Tall Blacks on the ropes, but couldn’t get the job done after committing basic mistakes that hurt the team in the end.
Turnovers, costly fouls, and questionable decisions by the visitors allowed the home team to pull off an escape act before a sellout crowd at the Sphere Arena in Auckland, and claim a ticket to the next round of the qualifiers.
“We missed some free throws, probably fouled a few times that we shouldn’t have, and that was really the story of the game,” admitted Cone following the hard-fought, 50-minute contest.
“We had chances in both regulation and in the first overtime to win that basketball game, but we just came up short.”
Gilas had more turnovers, 20-16, and committed more fouls, 27-23.
Justin Brownlee committed two fouls inside the last 62 seconds of the extra period – an offensive foul with 1:02 remaining and the game tied at 100 and a duty foul which was called unsportsmanlike with nine seconds left off an inbound turnover by Juan Gomez De Liano and the Tall Blacks protecting a slim 104-102 lead.
For Cone, it was a matter of being near and yet so far as the Philippines lost for the seventh time in eight meetings against New Zealand in a FIBA-sanctioned meet.
“It would have been nice to come down here and steal a game. That would have been special,” he said. “The fact that we got to as close as we did, obviously is a huge disappointment. Once you feel like it’s in your grasp, and let it slip away, it makes it tough.”
But that doesn’t take away anything from Gilas' brave stand against a team ranked 12 notches higher than the Philippines in the world rankings.
Young guns Juan Gomez De Liano and Kevin Quiambao came through with clutch baskets when the game was on the line, both finishing with a team-high 23 points, while Dwight Ramos and Carl Tamayo also scored in double figures with 18 and 17, respectively.
“Bottomline was, our guys came to play. They expended an incredible amount of energy just keeping and staying in the game,” said Cone.
“Went down by 11 or 12 points early in the game, we battled back, got ahead by seven, I think, but again we just couldn’t hold it.”
Gilas suffered a third straight loss in the first round of the qualifiers to fall to third place in Group A with a 2-3 slate, though it’s already assured of a berth in the second round set next month.
The Philippines will cap its campaign in the final window of the opening round on Monday when it plays Australia in Perth.
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