Argentina adds to Gilas Boys’ woes in FIBA U17 World Cup

MANILA, Philippines – Still not enough.

After dropping their first four matches with an average losing margin of 65.5 points, Gilas Boys put up a valiant late-game stand against Argentina, but still fell short with an 83-67 loss in the classification phase of the FIBA U17 World Cup on Friday, July 5, at the Ahmet Comert Sports Hall in Istanbul, Turkiye (Turkey).

Already trailing by its largest at 29 points, 52-81, the Philippines went on a massive 15-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull within 14 markers, 67-81, with 2:30 left to play.

Unfortunately for Gilas Boys, their late fightback went for naught as the lead Argentina built early on was simply too much for them to overcome at that stage of the ball game.

Similar to their previous outings, Gilas Boys – who crashed out of medal contention following a 96-point loss to USA on Wednesday, July 3 – once again dug themselves a deep hole as they immediately trailed by double-digits at the end of the first quarter, 15-27.

Despite a strong start by Gilas Boys guard Kurt Velasquez – who dropped 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting in the first half – the Filipinos still had no answers for the Argentines as the latter stretched their 12-point first-quarter lead to 22 points by halftime, 53-31.

Velasquez finished with a game-high 17 points on 6-of-16 field goal clip, while Bonn Daja posted a near double-double of 15 points and 9 rebounds.

Edryn Morales and Joaquin Ludovice also scored in twin-digits for the Philippines with 13 and 12, respectively.

For Argentina, Martin Torriani showed the way with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists, while Tyler Kropp had 13 markers and 9 boards.

Gilas Boys hope to finally barge into the winning column when they face off with rival China on Saturday, July 6, in the continuation of the classification phase, where they will no longer finish higher that No. 13 in the 16-team field.