Veteran mentor Tim Cone admitted that he wasn't a fan of zone defense. But against a talented Georgia side which had erected a 20-point lead halfway through the game, Gilas needed to find a solution or else face elimination and return home to Manila.

But zone defense worked well for Gilas, and the Nationals are marching on to the semifinals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The Philippine team lost to Georgia, 96-98, but remained in its semifinal seat after preventing the European squad to score a 19-point winning margin that could have sent the Filipinos packing and waving goodbyes to a small crowd of supporters at the Riga Arena on Thursday, July 4.

“I think it was like 'let's go to zone (defense). I think that was the key move when we went to the zone,” said Cone.

“I'm not really a zone guy but they were just eating us up individually. They were just isolating us by blowing by us so we had to go zone and it worked," he added.

The Crusaders were enjoying a 20-point lead, 40-20, before the Filipinos clamped down on defense and turned it up offensively on the other end to see themselves ahead, 71-70, in the third quarter.

With CJ Perez and Justin Brownlee torching the net, the Nationals retook the advantage multiple times and eventually staved off the Georgians' attempt to finish Gilas with a lopsided win.

Georgia’s NBA twin towers in Alexander Mamukelashvili (26) and Goga Bitadze (21) delivered the goods and were both vital when the Euro team was simply unstoppable in the first half.

“They struggled with it a little and we got some confidence and then we just stuck with it the rest of the way,” the 66-year-old head coach added.

Cone also confessed that Gilas didn’t practice the “zone” which for him was even more impressive.

“Like I said it was rare for me but in this kind of situation in this kind of tournament, you do what you have to do so I was really pleased we didn't have a practice zone,” Cone continued. 

“We haven't practiced a zone since we've been together. We haven't practiced it at all ever so for them to step in and play zone like that and be good it was amazing.”