Red alert for Gilas vs Latvia

MANILA, Philippines — Warning shots fired by powerhouse host Latvia.

With Gilas Pilipinas keenly watching in one section of the sold-out Arena Riga, the world No. 6 Latvians clobbered No. 23 Georgia, 83-55, to get the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament rolling Tuesday night in Riga (early yesterday in Manila).

Latvia flaunted its prowess from the three-point area, raining 12 triples on its Baltic rivals to set the tone for the rousing win in Group A.

This was most pronounced in the second quarter when the Latvians hit five consecutive treys, three of which came from Davis Bertans of the Charlotte Hornets, to break away from a slim 17-13 advantage.

Arturs Strautins topscored with 18 spiked by a perfect 4-of-4 marksmanship from deep while Mareks Mejeris produced 11 markers, seven rebounds and four assists to lead Latvia’s master class performance ahead of its clash with the Filipinos Wednesday night (early today).

No matter how tall the odds are, coach Tim Cone and his Gilas 11 aren’t backing down.

“We’re not here to win a game, we’re here to win the tournament, we’re in for the whole thing,” Cone said in his pep talk after practice shown on One Sports.

It’s practically a double-header slate as the Nationals take on Latvia first and eight and a half hours later Thursday will battle Georgia in what could be the deciding match in this group for the last spot to the crossover semis.

“Losing there tomorrow (against Latvia) does not knock us out but when we allow the first one to affect us in the second one, then we’re going to be knocked out,” Cone said in spelling out the scenarios.

His players are in full battle mode already.

“Ever since we got together, everybody’s been locked in from the jump,” Gilas guard Chris Newsome said in a separate One Sports interview.

“The learning curve is really quick. The coaching staff did a great job preparing us. The scouting report that they did is definitely on point so it’s really going to be on us to go out there and execute,” he added.