Dwight Ramos leads Gilas Pilipinas past Taiwan Mustangs in a tune-up game. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net Gilas Pilipinas scored a decisive win over visiting Taiwan Mustangs on Monday pocketing a big win to kick off a series of friendlies that will help prime the Nationals for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Riga, Latvia.
The Nationals, despite missing several key players, took home a wire-to-wire 74-64 victory fashioned before a rowdy crowd at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City, but coach Tim Cone wasn’t particularly concerned with how the scoreboard read. “Well you know, we weren’t concerned about winning or losing a basketball game, we wanted to play a certain style. And I think they did a really good job of throwing a lot of jump defense at us—things that we haven’t been prepared for because we’re only been practicing for three days,” he told reporters in the din of celebration at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
READ: Gilas Pilipinas beats Taiwan Mustangs in tune-up before OQT “But we worked hard on the defensive side. (Sam) Deguara, the big guy, was a load for everybody. Took a lot of space offensively and defensively and caused us some problems, but that’s what exactly we needed,” he added.
“We didn’t want it to be easy. If it was easy, then it’s not gonna help us. This is what’s hard and we were happy it was hard.
” Gilas, despite not having trailed in the contest, actually had to fend off the Mustang’s spirited tries at a comeback. L.
