IT’S not how you start, but how you finish.
Gilas Pilipinas learned this lesson the hard way after it absorbed a 55-86 loss to Egypt and wound up its campaign in a disappointing way yesterday in the Doha International Friendly Basketball Championship at the Qatar University Sports and Events Complex.
What began as a promising bid for the Nationals in the four-country meet ended in a whimper.
Gilas produced a come-from-behind 74-71 victory over Qatar last Saturday behind the exploits of naturalized star Justin Brownlee in its opening tiff.
But the wards of coach Tim Cone fell 54-75 loss to Lebanon early Sunday at the same venue.
Against the Pharaohs, the Filipino cagers faltered and could not get the job done in their what will likely be their final tune-up game before the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
Brownlee was the long bright spot for the team with 18 points, five rebounds, and one assist.
Before its Doha sojourn, Gilas held a two-day training at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna as it reconvened after three months.
The Philippine five will return to Manila for a brief respite before traveling to Chinese Taipei for a game against the host team on Feb. 20 and proceeding to Auckland for a highly-anticipated rematch with New Zealand three days later.
Gilas shows the way in Group B with a perfect 4-0 card and has already qualified for the Asia Cup set in August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps Gilas can take key lessons from these moving forward to its bigger targets.
