By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Gilas Pilipinas boys team’s World Cup bid was off to a rough start, dropping its opener against China, 83-65, in the FIBA U16 Asian Championship at the Al-Rayyan Indoor Hall in Doha, Qatar in the wee hours of Monday, Sept. 18.
The Filipinos simply lost steam in the second half to which the Chinese took full advantage and built a double-digit margin that they managed to protect until the final horn.
It was a tight ball game early on as the Nationals managed to knot the count at 43-all at the break, but the Josh Reyes-mentored team disintegrated after China decided to tighten up its defensive screws.
The Nationals were held to just 24 points in the final two quarters that did them in the tournament which dangles four spots in the FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey next year.
Kiefer Alas tried to keep Gilas in the game, dropping 20 points and eight rebounds but the Nationals struggled heavily when China began clamping down on the 6-foot-2 guard.
Cletz David Amos and Nathan Velasquez had 13 and 12 points respectively but most of their points came in the first half.
In contrast, China had five players with at least eight points led by the 17 points of Boyuan Zhang and the 14 of Wenhao Fu.
China outscored Gilas 24-16 in the third frame before putting up a strong finish in the final quarter where it limited the Filipinos to just eight points while exploding for 16 to blow the game wide open late.
Gilas faces Kazakhstan next in hopes to pick up its first win in the tournament. The Nationals need to finish within the top 2 of its group to advance to the quarterfinals.
