GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone described himself as “the happiest guy in the world” after the national squad pulled off a sweep of its games in the fourth window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
The Philippines closed the window with a 68-56 victory over Iran on Sunday in a fitting follow-up to its 82-81 overtime win against Jordan last Friday to revive its bid for one of seven available spots in the 2027 World Cup for the Asian zone not including the automatic berth of host Qatar.
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The twin wins came after Kai Sotto's return to the squad after a two-year absence, giving Gilas a timely lift after losing naturalized player Justin Brownlee due to injuries.
“I’m almost lost for words,” Cone said. “That’s really unusual for me. I’m not usually lost for words.
“But I’m extremely happy. Kai just walked in, [and asked], ‘Are you the happiest guy in the world?’ Because I said earlier, if we can win these two games, I’ll be the happiest guy in the world.
“So right now, I’m the happiest guy in the world because these are two really, really high-level international teams, Iran, especially. I read something in FIBA yesterday that this is only the third win we’ve had against them in the last 13 games. And we were able to do it all-Filipino pa. So it makes it really sweet to come out and win this game. And to do it at home,” said Cone.
Gilas closed the window with Sotto finishing with another double-double of 13 points and 16 rebounds, but the national squad also got a boost from Juan Gomez de Liano (16 points) off the bench, and a flu-stricken Dwight Ramos (16 points).
Against Jordan, moments etched in the minds of Gilas fans were the game-winning three by Kevin Quiambao, the big production of ‘magic bunot’ Cjay Perez, and the game-saving block of Sotto.
All of it also happened during the final international games of June Mar Fajardo as Gilas improved to 4-4 win-loss - still in fifth place but within range of second placer New Zealand (6-2), and third-ranked Iran (5-3) and Jordan (5-3).
“We had such great moments. When Kai got that rebound and dunked it, the crowd was just defeaning. When June Mar got the ball and turned and made that jump hook, the crowd went crazy.
"It was one of those slow starts that we had but the guys just kept fighting and fighting and getting back into the game, and we came into halftime, we felt pretty good about ourselves. I think we felt we could pull this out.
“Just a great character performance by these guys in both games. To have that overtime game. It’s easy to kind of let down coming into this one [against Iran]. But they all knew the importance of it. They all knew the importance it was for them, and for the country.
"They came out and played and it was fun to be part of it. Really a lot of fun to be a part of it,” Cone said.
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