Cone laments Sotto's absence in Gilas KO game vs Brazil

MANILA, Philippines -- Losing Kai Sotto against Brazil was “big” for Gilas Pilipinas as they kissed their Paris Olympics bid goodbye, head coach Tim Cone said.

Gilas bowed out of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Riga, Latvia Saturday evening after losing to Brazil, 71-60.

The big man Sotto, who played splendidly in the upset for the ages against Latvia and exited the Georgia game after getting hit by Goga Bitadze, did not see action on Saturday.

In two games, Sotto averaged 11 points, four rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in the Riga tournament.

The Philippines started strong, going up by 12 points, 24-12, in the second quarter before Brazil took over in the second half.

The 7-foot-3 center’s presence was sorely missed in the semifinal match, as Brazil outrebounded the Philippines 43 to 40, while the South American squad made 20 of its 43 2-point attempts.

In the postgame press conference, Cone said that while they do not want to make excuses, Sotto’s absence “took away our depth in the frontline.”

“We don't wanna make excuses but losing Kai was big for us because it just took away our depth in the frontline and forced June Mar Fajardo to have to overplay minutes and that kind of all mushroomed it right there,” he stressed.

“Started off strong but we just couldn't sustain it against their physicality. We're just lacking a big. We had to overplay our frontline,” he added.

Sotto’s absence led Fajardo to get “really tired” as he needed to play against former NBA players Cristiano Felicio and Bruno Caboclo, Cone underscored.

“Those were two guys who were ganging up on him and rotating on him. It was a tough battle for him being there all by himself.”

With Sotto missing the game, Japeth Aguilar, Carl Tamayo helped out Fajardo inside.

However, the Brazilians continued to dominate inside as they also found their range from the 3-point area.

“They played us with a real physical brand of basketball and we were playing in ... to be honest, we said this at halftime, we were making tough shots in the first half and they were missing a lot of open shots and we knew that if we didn't turn that around, it's going to be difficult for us in the second half,” Cone said.

“We continued to get tough shots and they weren't getting in anymore, and they started hitting open shots,” he added.

In the OQT, the Philippines shocked the world with a big win over world no. 6 Latvia and a close loss against world no. 23 Georgia.

Brazil will be facing Latvia in the final of the OQT, where the winner will punch a ticket to the Paris Olympics.