SEVILLE, Spain: Gilas Pilipinas is feeling every inch like a champion and its members being treated very much like one.

The Philippines finally won a World Cup game for the first time in 40 years on Thursday night and finished with a 1-4 record, but the adulation they received — and how the entire country back home is rejoicing — is not at all reflective of how the gallant Filipinos fought it out with the best in the globe the past week.

An 81-79 overtime nipping of a tall and athletic Senegal squad was the fruit of four decades of labor of the Filipinos; a victory that will forever rid them of ridicule when talk comes to basketball anywhere in the world and a win that will certainly serve all basketball leagues in the country well.

Bonuses, reportedly worth more than a million pesos each were handed out during an extravagant dinner Thursday night as cage patron, the business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, expressed his gratitude to all who worked hard for it.

“Maraming salamat, maraming salamat sa inyong lahat,” Pangilinan said in his short speech before steaks, drink and all the trimmings making up a fine meal were served to everyone in attendance.

“The entire country is proud of you.”

Pangilinan would later talk to reporters and bare the doubts that he had coming into the 24-nation conclave – and how those doubts were erased immediately after the first game when the Nationals dropped an 81-78 overtime decision to Croatia, the 16th-ranked nation in the globe.

“I will be honest, I thought we would be blown off the court every game,” Pangilinan said. “But the spirit of the Filipino player came to fore right in the first game.”

Pangilinan also broke news that the Philippines will be bidding to host the 2019 edition of the World Cup and that he will be a member of the Fiba’s central board after getting an invitation from secretary-general Patrick Baumann.

Hosting the World Cup would give the Philippines an automatic slot, hence, no need to play in excruciating qualifying events.

That’s why he ended his speech with another marching order to the players: “Stay healthy (for 2019).”

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Jimmy Alapag had said before coming over that this would be his last tournament, but two explosive games later against some of the best players in the world has elicited clamor coming from all over for him to reconsider.

And from the way he sounded during that gathering, it seems that the international basketball scene has not seen the last of Alapag just yet.

“I will come up with a decision in a couple of days,” the 5-foot-8 point guard, who knocked down five free throws in the final 45 seconds and held the Filipinos together in the stretch against the Senegalese, told Arab News.

“I felt the energy of an entire country out there today,” Alapag said of the adrenaline rushing through his body when the game was truly on the line and Andray Blatche having to leave the court after fouling out with a good 1:55 left.

“I have enjoyed every minute of my stint with the national team,” he said. “There is no greater feeling, believe me. I will talk with LJ (Moreno, his wife) and to coach (Chot Reyes) and boss (MVP) before I make a decision.

“What’s hard is that I have not said no to coach and boss before,” he said.