(UPDATED)
By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Gilas Boys start their campaign in the FIBA U17 World Cup against powerhouse Lithuania at the Istanbul, Sinan Erdem Dome on Saturday, June 29 (Manila time) in Turkey.
Obviously, they are heavy underdogs against the No.7 ranked team in the world but the Nationals are still hoping to pull off a surprise in the 5:30 p.m. clash and put the rest of the 16-field tournament on notice.
Led by coach Josh Reyes, the Nationals watched from the sidelines as their senior counterparts – Gilas Pilipinas suffered an 84-73 defeat to Turkey in a friendly match early Friday (Manila time).
The brave stand Gilas put up against the much taller foes should be enough to light a fire in the spirits of the boys team that is likewise facing its own daunting task.
Their bid suffered a huge blow after star guard Kieffer Alas was confirmed to be out of the World Cup after sustaining an apparent left knee injury.
Without the team’s leading scorer who was averaging 15.4 points apart from his 8.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists, Kurt Nathan Velasquez, Joaquin Ludovice, Irus Chua and Champ Arejola who is taking Alas spot in the Final 12 are expected to lead the charge.
Elijah Williams, Cletz David Amos, Edryn Morales, Bonn Daja, Paul Diao, Jaime Gomez De Liaño, Samuel Alegre, and Noah Banal are also part of the crew which are looking to best the country’s 13th place finish in the last time it participated in the World Cup in 2018.
After the Lithuanians, the Gilas juniors will take on World No.2 Spain the next day on the 30th before rounding up their group stage schedule against No. 15 Puerto Rico on July 2 after a one-day break.
No team will be eliminated at the end of the group phase although Gilas needs to have a decent record to get a favorable matchup and avoid other powerhouses in the crossover Round of 16.
