Cone savors ‘sweet’ Gilas win over Iran, home sweep

Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone during a game against Iran in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers at Mall of Asia Arena.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–Coach Tim Cone considers himself the “happiest guy in the world” after Gilas Pilipinas completed a fourth window sweep of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers with Sunday’s 68-56 win over Iran.

Gilas improved to an even 4-4 win-loss slate before a home crowd at Mall of Asia Arena, trimming the gap with Iran, and also Jordan after the two teams fell to 5-3 to close out the window winless.

The Philippines defeated Jordan, 82-81, in overtime last Friday.

Cone also took notice of the circumstances behind Gilas’ win, as it beat Iran for the first time in a Fiba competition since the 2015 Asian Championship in Changsha, China, while also playing with an all-Filipino lineup following the absence of naturalized player Justin Brownlee.

“It makes it really sweet to come out and win this game,” said Cone.

But Gilas had to go the wringer for the second straight game after missing 11 of 13 shots in the first quarter to trail 18-7.

Big contributions from Kai Sotto, Juan Gomez de Liano, plus a morale-boosting appearance from the retiring June Mar Fajardo enabled Gilas to fight back and turn the contest into a seesaw affair.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Ramos made crucial shots, even as the rest of Gilas was able to tighten things up to see off the Iranian side.

“It was one of those slow starts that we have, but the guys kept fighting and fighting and getting back into the game,” Cone said. “At halftime, we felt good about ourselves, and we felt we could pull this one out.

“But it’s just a great character performance by these guys, in both games,” he added.