Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone explains decision not to force overtime vs Georgia in FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone said it was a conscious decision not to force overtime against Georgia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Thursday in Latvia.

Gilas was down 96-93 with 14 seconds left but after a timeout, Chris Newsome instead had a trip to the line after drawing a foul from Giorgi Ochkhikidze.

"We couldn't go into overtime. We had an opportunity to shoot a three in the end to try to get us into overtime and play but we just felt we didn't want to give them an opportunity to try to extend the lead in overtime," Cone said in the post-game conference.

Georgia needed to win by 19 points or more to advance to the semifinals. However, with the slim 96-94 win for Georgia, it was Gilas who booked a slot to the next round.

For Cone, however, he missed a detail that could have been crucial in the final seconds of regulation.

After Newsome split his final free throws, Goga Bitadze grabbed the rebound.

"Still, I don't know his first name, I can't remember. [He] missed a dunk follow-up, that was a bad coaching decision on my part. I should've had Newsome... New, should've had him hold the ball and just not even shoot that second free throw and get a violation, that would've been a smart move. I just blanked out and did not think about it. We were lucky we did not go into overtime."

With the loss, Gilas finished second in Group A of the Riga tournament behind Latvia. The Philippines will now await the results of the game between Brazil and Cameroon to determine its semis opponent.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News