The Philippine men's basketball team's travel plans back to Manila have to wait a little while after it advanced to the crossover semifinals at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Thursday night at the Arena Riga in Latvia.Gilas Pilipinas actually lost to Georgia, 92-94, at the close of the group stage but the Filipinos, who defeated the Latvians early Thursday, still made the final four, thanks to its 89-80 victory against the host team early Thursday.
Cone admitted being down 20 points in the first half would have easily been panic time for Gilas, especially when the team lost young slotman Kai Sotto to injury.The 7-foot-3 Sotto appeared to have hurt his rib after colliding with Georgia's Joe Thomasson with still 6:42 to go in the second period. He left the game and was not fielded back in.'They went down 20, and that could have been easy panic time, but they worked their way back into the game right through the fourth quarter.