Gilas Pilipinas had the huge home crowd leaving the Mall of Asia Arena ecstatic over an impressive win against world No. 22 New Zealand – a squad that the Nationals have not beaten for the last eight years and through their first four meetings.

It was another milestone for head coach Tim Cone and his Gilas program, which, a few months back, also defeated then-world No.6 Latvia for the country’s first-ever win over a European team in 64 years.

Of course, the ever-passionate Gilas fans were all smiles. And for all the good reasons.

For one, Gilas is barely scratching the surface of its potential.

“We haven't seen our best team yet and yet we’ve been able to beat No.6 and No. 22,” said Cone in the aftermath of Gilas’ 93-89 home win over the visiting Tall Blacks at the Mall of Asia Arena on Thursday, Nov. 21.

With only nine months into the program and the players with only two and a half windows together, Gilas seemed to have exceeded expectations.

The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga last July was the beginning of it as Gilas beat Latvia right on its home court, and then holding its own against Georgia and Brazil.

And the win over New Zealand? It was proof that Gilas was indeed for real and its wins and narrow loses against some of the bests in the world were far from being a fluke.

“That’s what we are here for, trying to win these types of games. And the OQT was fantastic and I thought we could have done a lot better, this guy (Kai) if had not gotten hurt,” Cone who missed Sotto in the semis game against Brazil, as well as Scottie Thompson for the entirety of the tournament.

Against New Zealand, Sotto put up his best performance yet in Gilas uniform with 19 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists to go with two steals and two blocks.

Thompson had 12 points, six assists and four rebounds including a couple of hustle plays that had the fans pumping their fists in the air especially during the pivotal 16-0 run in the third frame.

“You could see the effect that Kai has on the game and you can actually see the effect of Scottie. We don't have Scottie during the OQT as well. We played Brazil, the No. 12 team in the world, without Kai, without Scottie,” said Cone.

With all of the impressive showings, Gilas has plenty of size and talent still waiting on the wings with both AJ Edu and Jamie Malonzo, two versatile two-way players, still yet to make their returns to the national team.

“(We’re still) without AJ Edu who will eventually impact us because of his defensive skills and he really complements Kai and some of the things he can do for us and Jamie Malonzo as a stopper,” said Cone.

“You put Jamie Malonzo, a 6–foot-7 quick guy on Corey Webster, he’s gonna get Webster all kinds of problems because he has all the size and speed and length to get him in trouble,” he added.

As much as the fans are happy with Gilas recent feats, safe to bet that the best is still yet to come.

“We’re still trying to see where we can go and how far we can go,” the veteran mentor added.