GILAS Pilipinas may have given Turkey a competitive fight in their tune-up match Friday morning in Istanbul.
But there's nothing satisfying than getting the win itself.
"While others may see it as a satisfying first game, our team mindset is - almost is not enough," said national team manager Richard Del Rosario following the team's 84-73 loss at the Besiktas Akatlar Culture and Sports Complex.
"We only have one shot at making it to the Olympics, and we cannot be satisfied with almost winning."
Gilas gave its world 24th ranked opponent a solid competition by making the friendly a close game until the waning minutes of the final period when the Dev Adam hit a three pointer courtesy of NBA draftee Tarik Biberovic - his final threer for the night - that made it an 81-73 game for the host.
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Gilas went to Justine Brownlee and June Mar Fajardo down the stretch and the duo responded by pulling the Filipinos to within 78-73 after trailing by as many as nine, before Biberovic hit the clutch basket from long range.
"It was a tough loss against Turkey," admitted Del Rosario. "We had our first taste of the type of opposition we will be facing in the OQT."
Gilas will be going to Poland next to play the host ranked no. 15 in the world for the second of its two friendlies before proceeding to Riga, Latvia for the Paris Olympic qualifiers.
"We move on to the next game with a firmer belief we can hold our own against higher ranked teams with a real chance of reaching our mission of making it to Paris," said Del Rosario.(RG)
