AFTER falling short of its objective to be at the Paris Games this year, Tim Cone intends to keep the current pool of Gilas players as the national squad shoots for the 2027 FIBA World Cup and the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

The Philippines saw its dream Olympic run come to an abrupt end Saturday night after bowing to 12th-ranked squad Brazil, 71-60, in their crossover semifinal tussle.

"The whole part of bringing this particular program together, which is different from what we had in the World Cup, is the fact that we are hopefully going to keep these guys together for the next three to four years, try to keep them together going into the next World Cup," said Cone during the postgame press conference after the game.

He acknowledged that the painful semifinal exit is part of the journey of the Gilas squad.

"It's hard to talk about this right after you lose. But it's a growth experience for us. It's kind of like a 'now, we know' moment. Now, we know we can compete. How can we get that next step in which we can get a little bit better and not just compete, but win," he explained.

Cone also mentioned that players must learn to adapt to the playing conditions at FIBA where competition is simply tough.

"Playing these kinds of tournaments where you are playing three games in four days, it gets harder and harder every game. These are the things that we will need to adjust to. But like I said, we didn't expect to be here. Once we are here, we expect to win," stressed Cone.

The Philippines managed to reach the semifinals, thanks to its stunning 89-80 victory over Latvia in the group stage.

And even if Gilas fell against Georgia, 96-94, the Filipinos managed to reach the semis nonetheless due to a superior tiebreak.

"It's an incredible disappointment for us. We are not going to jump up and down and say 'Yehey, we did our thing and everybody was proud of us,'" said Cone.

"Hopefully, it doesn't get into our mindset. We need to keep pushing and moving forward, getting better."

Gilas Pilipinas will take a lull from the international competition for the next few months, before returning to action in the November window when the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers continue.

The Philippines faces New Zealand on November 21, followed by Hong Kong on November 24 in its two home games.

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