MANILA, Philippines – National team head coach Tim Cone said it’s a luxury to have a player like Chris Newsome come off the bench for Gilas Pilipinas. After impressing in his role as a starting point guard in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament months ago, Newsome was relegated to a bench role following the return of Scottie Thompson to the lineup. Cone’s decision to put Newsome off the bench worked wonders as Gilas Pilipinas finally secured a victory against New Zealand, 93-89 , in the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena on Thursday, November 21.
“We saw how good [Newsome] was in the OQT (Olympic Qualifying Tournament) as a starter and Scottie (Thompson) took over for him,” said Cone. “We didn’t know much about [New Zealand] coming in because they hadn’t played together, but it was his job to look and sit on the bench for the first few minutes, check out these guys, and figure out how he can play them. And so he came out and played these guys really well.
” “I thought he was the one that really got us going defensively, got us back in the game after our slow start,” added Cone of Newsome. With New Zealand’s Corey Webster heating up early with two quick triples in the first two minutes of the ball game, it was Newsome who was tasked to limit the high-scoring guard, who finished with a team-best 25 points for the Tall Blacks. Guarding Webster, however, wasn’t an easy job for Newsome as he was hounded by foul troub.