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AJ Edu (No. 34) had all sorts of problems dealing with the big men of Australia. —FIBA.COM
Coach Tim Cone couldn’t sugarcoat the way Gilas Pilipinas performed—or underperformed—in a brutal defeat to Australia on Monday to close out the first round of qualification for the 2027 Fiba World Cup.
“It wasn’t a lot of fun, that’s for sure,” Cone said after GIlas took a 92-49 loss flush on the kisser in Perth to finish with a 2-4 win-loss record in Group A, as the Filipinos came into the contest at RAC Arena sans Justin Brownlee, who was scratched due to a hamstring injury.
Still, Cone and the Filipinos were hoping to give themselves the chance to produce a massive result against the fancied Boomers.
They didn’t even come close to doing so.
Turnover-prone
Turnovers, particularly in the first quarter, set the tone for the blowout, as Gilas wasn’t able to sustain a solid second period as Australia widened a 41-27 halftime lead to more than double by the time the final buzzer sounded.
Bryce Cotton inflicted trouble on Gilas as he poured in 21 points for the Boomers, who completed a six-game sweep of the first round.
“We felt we could come out and compete [against Australia],” said Cone. “But we only competed in stretches, and that is not good enough.”
No Gilas player scored in double figures with Dwight Ramos producing the highest output with nine.
A “bright light,” as Cone described, was Mike Phillips, whose all-out energy translated to six points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes.
Still, Gilas couldn’t build on what could have been a momentum-builder from Friday’s stinging 106-102 double overtime loss to New Zealand in Auckland.
The right move
Gilas played with Brownlee that time, but the naturalized player could only muster five points in a back-and-forth battle.
Cone felt sitting out Brownlee was the right move.
“Well, it wasn’t worth 40 points,” Cone said. “He’s a guy that we could go through in tough moments.
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“But he wasn’t just ready. He wouldn’t be much of a help the way he was feeling,” he added. INQ
