'Almost winning not good enough': Cone hard-pressed to get victories for Gilas

MANILA, Philippines -- After absorbing a tough 84-73 loss against Türkiye in a friendly match early Friday morning, GIlas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone stressed the team needs to “get over the hump” and come on top in winnable games.

After trailing in the majority of the second half, the Philippines trailed by just three, 65-68, in the fourth quarter with less than seven minutes to go.

A backbreaking 8-0 run was then unleashed by the Turkish to go up by 11, 76-65.

While Gilas was able to cut the lead to just five down the stretch, Turkiye outlasted the visiting team to grab the win.

Cone, after the game, said that the contest was winnable.

“Almost winning is not good enough for us on this trip. We need to get over the hump and win these winnable games,” he said in a Viber message.

The tactician stressed that the loss was on him.

“That's on me. I need to be better, we need to be better,” he said.

“We can't bring this game back and play it again. We have to move on, and it's only going to get tougher,” he added.

Gilas will be facing Poland in another friendly match ahead of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Latvia.

“We're now going from the 24th-ranked team in the world to the 15th-ranked team in Poland. We need to be better.”

The Philippines will face Latvia and Georgia in the OQT for a chance to make the Paris Olympics.