COACH Tim Cone took full responsibility when Gilas Pilipinas experienced its first setback in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Cone expressed his thoughts on social media after Team Philippines suffered an 84-91 beating at the hands of Chinese Taipei on Thursday at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
“No one feels worse about this devastating loss than I do, and I take full ownership of it,” said Cone, who felt that the Taiwanese side was impressive that night.
It was the Philippines’ first loss to a Taiwanese side in 12 years.
In that game, Lu Chun Hsiang scored the biggest shot of his career when he hit a triple from the left wing for an 89-84 Taipei lead, with 47.1 seconds left to play, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
“We knew they were going to be much improved from the last time we played them, but they were even better than we thought,” said Cone.
Justin Brownlee accounted for 39 points from an 8-of-11 three-point clip, to go with six rebounds and eight assists.
Dwight Ramos added 15 points and five rebounds, while big man AJ Edu, who subbed for injured Kai Sotto, knocked in 10 points, six boards and two assists.
By improving to 2-3, the East Asian side has secured third spot in Group B and is therefore bound to compete in the qualifying tournament for third-placed teams.
“Everything, we prepared for. First of all, we faced a stronger team. We were ready to compete and made a good step,”said Chinese Taipei’s Italian head coach Gianluca Tucci.
The Philippines now has a 4-1 slate, turning its rematch with the New Zealand Tall Blacks at the Spark Arena in Auckland on Sunday into a fight for the no. 1 spot in Group B.