GILAS Pilipinas looks to end its two-game home stand with another victory as it battles many-time Asian champion Iran in the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Filipinos are coming off a morale-boosting 82-81 overtime win against Jordan last Friday.
That game saw CJ Perez provide the big spark, dropping all 16 of his points in the second half, while Kevin Quiambao nailed the go-ahead three.
Big man Kai Sotto then sealed the win with a big block on Abdullah Olajuwon’s attempt in the dying seconds to end the Philippines’ four-game losing skid.
Given the emotional high of that win, Gilas approaches its 8 p.m. match against Iran with hopes of another victory.
Iran is coming off a 93-91 heartbreaker of a loss to streaking New Zealand.
Cone is bracing for a solid bounce back effort from the Iranians, who enter the game tied with the Jordanians and Tall Blacks at 5-2.
Sotto will again lead the charge against Iran, hopeful he could follow up on his 16-point, 14-rebound, two-block performance against Jordan.
Sans naturalized player Justin Brownlee, Gilas also has AJ Edu, CJ Perez, Kevin Quiambao and Dwight Ramos to provide the spark.
Meanwhile, Cone wasn’t being prophetic when he wrote on the locker room white board, “grind it — one point win,” as part of his final reminders before Gilas Pilipinas played Jordan Friday night.
The national squad though started flat in the opening quarter, falling behind by 17 points as Jordan looked to deal a quick death blow.
But the Filipinos refused to quit.
And with the help of the full house home crowd, Gilas slowly chipped Jordan’s deficit away.
The all-Filipino crew eventually kept it a nip-and-tuck game with Sotto, Edu and Perez taking charge, bringing inspiration to everyone else.
“There’s a reason for that. When you’re working for a one-point win, you have to value every possession. That’s really the point of that, we’re not necessarily looking for a one-point win, but we’re trying to play as if it’s going to be that,” said Cone.
“It means valuing each possession defensively and offensively.” Cone said he was happy to see the players find a way to win even without Brownlee.
Perez also led the gutsy fight of Gilas, scoring 16 of his points in the second half and through over time.
“It was fun to be a part of; it was fun to be on this side: winning,” he said.
“I know how tough it is; against New Zealand, we were on the other side of it in overtime and losing these really, really important World Cup qualifiers,” added Cone, referring to Gilas’ tough 106-102 double overtime loss to the Tall Blacks last July.
Cone had at his disposal three bigs in Sotto, AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo.
But given Jordan’s ability to push the ball, the Gilas mentor made the in-game adjustments that include going small in various stretches of the game, while leaning on the Sotto-Edu tandem in the endgame.
