GILAS Pilipinas finally made it to the win column of the 31st FIBA Asia Cup by blasting Iraq, 66-57, to make it to the next round of the continental meet.
And coach Tim Cone knows it only gets tougher from here on.
As the no. 3 seed in Group D, the Philippines (1-2) faces the prospect of meeting either host Saudi Arabia or Jordan in the crossover playoffs on Monday.
READ: Gilas finally gets one, beats Iraq to stay alive in FIBA Asia Cup
Saudi Arabia stunned Jordan on Friday, 77-73, to create a two-way tie at second place in Group C with similar 1-1 slates.
China is on top of the group with a 2-0 record.
Jordan will face the Chinese in the final day of the group stage, while Saudi takes on winless India.
“We’re happy to be moving on. We know the road is going to be tough. We picked a tougher road to go, but we’re ready to accept that challenge,” said Cone.
Teams that topped their respective groups will advance outright to the quarterfinals, where they will be joined by the four other teams which survives the crossover play-in.
New Zealand and Chinese Taipei will dispute the top spot in Group D for the right to make it straight to the Final Eight.
For Cone though, getting his first win as coach in the Asia Cup was more than a sigh of relief.
“Any win at this point is going to be big for us because we needed one to get under our belt,” he said as Gilas was coming off back-to-back heartbreakers against Chinese Taipei and New Zealand.
The win against Iraq was a tough one, according to Cone, as the Philippines never really got it going until the third quarter when Dwight Ramos anchored a back-breaking 20-2 run that turned a three-point Gilas deficit into a huge 55-37 advantage.
“Both teams were really desperate for a win because we’re both 0-2 and both looking to advance,” the 67-year-old national coach said.
“There was a lot of desperation in that basketball game. I thought both teams came out and played tremendously hard.”
Unfortunately for Iraq, only one team gets to advance.
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