GILAS REBOOKS FLIGHT TO MANILA AFTER REACHING OQT SEMIS

GILAS Pilipinas will have some rebooking to do as to their return trip home.

Head coach Tim Cone admitted Gilas Pilipinas had already booked a Friday flight back to Manila, or on the day after their final group stage match against Georgia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga.

But as it turned, Gilas will be needing to stay for a couple more days after securing a semifinal berth in the OQT where one Olympic berth in Paris is at stake.

Cone said the plane tickets for a Friday return back home was proof of how their achievement to reach the semifinals was totally unexpected.

"We have our tickets to leave tomorrow," said Cone. "We already had our tickets out there, reservations to go. We bought all the tickets to leave tomorrow."

"So I guess we’ve got to have to move them back a little bit. That’s how surprised we are to be here and talking to you guys," Cone told reporters after their 96-94 loss to Georgia on Thursday.

Gilas Pilipinas fans in Latvia will see more of them this tournament Gilas Almost Went Home

It appeared that they were going home as scheduled.

Georgia started like a house on fire by scoring the first 16 points of the game and even led by 20 at one point. But Justin Brownlee was once again his own self, while getting contributions all around even with the absence of Kai Sotto due to an injury kept them in the game.

Gilas eventually lost but the result still propelled them to a place in the final four of the Riga OQT as it prevented Georgia from producing the required point difference of 19 for them to clinch the semifinals.

Latvia takes the No. 2 seed in Group A due to a better point difference (+19) against the Philippines (+7).

"I really want to complement our guys," said Cone. "They went down 20. It could have been an easy panic time. They worked their way back in the game and right into the fourth quarter. But we were down 20 at various points of the game.

"One little streak here or there, we could have gone 30 and then, we are going home and we are using those tickets that we have tomorrow. But they really showed their resilience," said Cone.

On the supposed day of their flight to Manila, Gilas Pilipinas will take a break to prepare for the semifinals to be played on Saturday against the No. 1 seed in Group A.

2024-07-04T18:12:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd