It’s tough to make out silver linings in a loss but Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone saw one in the form of Kevin Quiambao.

The Philippines dropped its first assignment in the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup at the hands of Chinese Taipei, 95-87, but not without an exemplary effort from Quiambao.

The La Salle product’s performance was not something that Cone would not leave unnoticed.

“He came out and played with a lot of energy and hit some big shots for us,” said Cone at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday morning (Manila time).

“In terms of the way Kevin played, he played very, very well. He was the highlight of the team.”

In 16 minutes of exposure off the bench, Quiambao registered 17 points, four rebounds and two assists built on an efficient 60 percent field goal shooting clip.

Despite his efforts, though, the Taiwanese’s hot-shooting proved to be just too much for him and the Philippines.

If you ask him, though, Quiambao will be looking at how they need to overcome themselves first rather than dwelling on the loss that put their Asia Cup campaign on a damper.

“It’s us vs. us because our only opponents here are ourselves. We have to overcome that situation,” said the NBA Summer League aspirant.

“We have to overcome that situation. We have to get out of this unlucky situation,” he concluded.

Quiambao and Gilas hope to get on Group D’s win column when they take on New Zealand on Thursday at 11 pm, local time, in the same venue.