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Playing before a passionate home crowd, Gilas Pilipinas unleashed what was perhaps their best performance in years -- trouncing Chinese Taipei 106-53 on Sunday to sweep the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. Justin Brownlee's 26 points led six Gilas players in double digits, including an 18-point effort from center Kai Sotto. "I really like the way we played tonight," said Gilas coach Tim Cone. "We just really worked hard on both sides of the floor and did that throughout the whole game, 40 minutes. "I think we have to remember Chinese Taipei just played a top 20 team three days ago in New Zealand. They played them all the way till the end of the game. In the last four or five minutes of the game, they were in the game. "So we played the same team and these guys just worked their tails off and made them look bad. And they're not that bad. They're a really talented team. I'm especially impressed with the way we continued to defend them and give them a hard time." Cone, though, was quick to temper expectations. "Make no mistake: we have a long way to go. This was a pretty game tonight. We didn't go out there to put on a show and show how good we are. We just wanted to go out there and work. It just turned out that way. But we also realize we have a lot of work ahead of us and a long ways to go. Defense wins games As impressive as Gilas' offense was -- they had 30 assists on 43 made field goals -- limiting Chinese Taipei to only 53 points was the bigger achievement. Sotto had three blocks while CJ Perez had three steals. Overall they forced Chinese Taipei into 16 turnovers and a paltry 29.8% shooting from the field. Meanwhile, Chris Newsome harassed Chinese Taipei gunner Liu Cheng into 5-of-14 shooting. "I thought (Newsome) did a tremendous job defensively against (Liu)," Cone said. "He just got him really, really frustrated. And that's why 'New' is there. "He's a great two-way player and he doesn't just play one side of the ball. And that's what we've demanded from everybody. You can't be on this team if you can't play both sides of the ball. "They're all offensive stars, but if you're not willing to put it down defensively, then you're not gonna stay on this team very long. Right now we've got 12 guys committed to the defensive side. So I'm real proud of this team." Latvia is next Cone now has his sights set on the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in early July, where Gilas will play hosts Latvia and Georgia in their group. It's a tough road ahead, no doubt, but Cone says the team is looking forward to the challenge, stating: "I don't think there's one guy on our team not looking forward to June and getting back together and getting this thing going again. "I think they all had a great time. It took a lot of work in Inspire Camp. "This 2-0 start is great, but it's just a little baby step on the way. We need a lot more bigger strides as we go, and the next game we play is gonna be Latvia, who is a top-10 team. They just beat Spain a couple of days ago. So can we get to that level? That's going to answer more questions for us." The biggest issue for Gilas, as always, will be preparation time. In the case of the OQT, Cone said they will have only ten days to practice. "There's only a certain amount of things that we can control, and there's only certain amounts of time we can get everybody together," he admitted. "So it's not like we can come out and prepare for months or even weeks. "The agreement is, we got ten days before we actually play our first game against Latvia. That might be ten days here, or Inspire Camp everyday, or maybe it's going out and trying to find some friendlies against some European teams so we can get a feel of the way they play. "We have some invitations from Lithuania, from Slovenia and the Czech Republic. We're going to work our way through those and see what we can do. But the window for us to do it is only ten days." The OQT will also hopefully give everyone a first glimpse of Gilas at full strength with giants June Mar Fajardo and AJ Edu rejoining the team, with Cone adding: "So we got a 6-(foot)-10 and 6-11 guy who are gonna come out and join us when they're healthy. And we're hoping all 12 guys will come healthy in June. "That's something we don't have control over, but we're just gonna keep our fingers crossed. But imagine when we get to that European level. June Mar and Kai are gonna be playing together. AJ and Kai are going to be playing together. "They're going to find ways, because they're gonna need to. We're gonna meet that kind of size when we play. So that's the thing we're gonna have to work on in those ten days we have."
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