GILAS PILIPINAS SHOCKED WORLD NO. 6 LATVIA, FIRST WIN IN FIBA COMPETITION AFTER 64 YEARS

Gilas Pilipinas won against Latvia on FIBA qualifying tournament after six decades (Photo courtesy of FIBA Basketball)

Gilas Pilipinas surprised the World No. 6 Latvia after it beats the European team from the FIBA ​​Olympic Qualifiers, Gilas immediately went on a rampage in the first quarter of the game. The Philippines only scored 16 points after the first quarter with the help of CJ Perez's 3 points. 

The team's momentum continued, allowing them to maintain their advantage at half time. Gilas got even hotter entering the third quarter where they ballooned to 26 points.

But Latvia seemed to have woken up and the defense tightened, in the last period they gradually erased the lead and were reduced to ten points in the last four and a half minutes. Justin Brownlee finished the match and Latvia didn’t respond. Gilas won with a final score of 89-80. 

Brownlee recorded 26 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists to lead Gilas. Kai Sotto also showed good performance with 18 points and eight rebounds. Dwight Ramos tossed in 18 and 12 points, respectively.

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

Because of the win, the Philippines' chance to enter the semis of the qualifiers is alive and well.

“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. 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,” Cone added. 

This is the country's first win against a European team in a FIBA ​​competition in 64 years or since it hacked out an 84-82 escape over Spain in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

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