Cone rues Gilas defensive lapses

Almost but not quite.

Gilas Pilipinas gave the world No. 15 Polish national squad a big scare before eventually folding in a sorry 80-82 loss in its final tune-up match before the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament early Sunday (Manila time) at the Arena Sosnowiec in Sosnowiec, Poland.

The result was a decent one compared to an 11-point defeat at the hands of Turkey last Friday in Istanbul but head coach Tim Cone felt Gilas could’ve pulled an upset if not for some defensive collapse.

“Our defense just quit, fellas,” Cone lashed at his wards during one of his timeouts in the closing minutes of the friendly.

The decorated mentor didn’t like the sequences when Gilas allowed the Poles to get easy baskets.

“We’re only standing up. But when you get tired, this is the time when you get at it more, fellas. You have to get lower, be more ready,” Cone said.

The tactician reminded his players that it will be harder come the OQT in Riga where they will face host Latvia, the world no. 6, and 23rd ranked Georgia.

“Again, if you wanna play at this level, these are the things that you’re gonna have to do. You can’t just play the way you want to play. You got to play on this level, and that means get down on guys, go ahead, chase them, run them, make the extra effort,” he said.

“If we’re not gonna make the extra effort, we can’t stop these guys.”

Naturalized player Justin Brownlee led Gilas with 30 points while Dwight Ramos spearheaded the visiting team’s late charge, scoring the game’s last eight points.

Ramos had 16 markers, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals while June Mar Fajardo added 10 markers.

Italian Cup Most Valuable Player Michal Sokolowski had 21 points including a sweet 3-of-4 shooting from the outside.

His trey early in the final quarter sparked Poland’s breakaway to a 14-point gap after Gilas came within two, 58-56, at the end of the third.

With their final preparations done, the Filipinos head to the OQT where a ticket to the Paris Olympics is at stake.

Gilas battles Latvia on 4 July (12 midnight, Manila time) before facing Georgia (4 July, 8:30 p.m., Manila time).