PH takes on Brazil in semis

WITH its Olympic hopes very much alive, the Philippines will be shooting for a finals spot in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament when it tangles with Brazil in a knockout crossover semifinal match on Saturday night (Philippine time) at the Arena Riga in Latvia.

Gilas Pilipinas marched into the semifinal round as the No. 2 seed from Group A despite dropping a narrow 96-94 decision to Georgia Thursday night.

Georgia failed to meet the required winning margin of 19 or more points to oust the Philippines as it blew a 20-point second quarter lead.

Georgia succumbed to the zone defense of Gilas Pilipinas, which allowed the Filipino to launch a massive comeback behind the timely shooting of naturalized player Justin Brownlee and CJ Perez and the playmaking of Dwight Ramos.

Latvia, the Philippines and Georgia ended in a three-way tie at 1 win-1 loss in Group A. Latvia and the Philippines, however, sealed spots in the semifinals owing to superior tiebreak against Georgia.

Gilas Pilipinas heads to its 8:30 p.m. semifinal match against Brazil, still buoyed by its 89-80 stunning win over Latvia early Thursday.

Should the Philippines beat Brazil, the Filipinos will face the winner of the other semis duel between Latvia and Cameroon, slated at 12 midnight on Saturday.

The availability of 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, though, is a game-time decision after he sustained a rib injury following a collision with Georgia's Joe Thomasson at the 6:42 mark of the second quarter.

As Sotto dropped to the floor, Georgian big man Goga Bitadze fell on him.

Sotto left the game to undergo an X-ray on his ribs and was not fielded back in the game.

The team said the X-ray showed no fractures but Sotto remains a game time decision.

Meanwhile, Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone said despite the historic triumph against world No. 6 Latvia and the narrow loss to Georgia on Thursday, the Filipinos will have to keep their focus on their task.

"I hope that's (win over Latvia) not coming through our mind. We're a very process-driven team and we stay focused on what's right in front of us," Cone said during the postgame interview after the Georgia game. "We got this step done, now we got another step to take. That's where our focus is."

The Philippines is ranked 37th in the world while Brazil is ranked 12th.

Brazil also reached the semis despite ending their own group stage with a 77-74 loss to Cameroon.

Brazil closed its Group B assignment tied with Cameroon and Montenegro with identical 1-1 records.

Brazil and Cameroon held higher points differential against Montenegro, thus finishing as the top two teams in Group B and advancing in the crossover semis.