By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Gilas Pilipinas Boys found Lithuania simply too big and too strong, absorbing a 107-48 beating to open their FIBA U17 World Cup campaign on the wrong foot at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, June 29.
The Filipinos kept themselves within striking distance for the one and a half quarters before the Lithuanians asserted their size and speed advantage to break the floodgates wide open and cruise to the dominant win.
A top 4 finisher in the last edition of the tournament, the world No. 7 Lithuania lived up to its lofty billing, leading by as many as 63 points behind a strong performance in the middle quarters.
The presence of Gilas star Kieffer Alas, who went down with an ACL sprain just a couple of days before the start of their campaign, was sorely missed as only one player scored in double-figures for the PH side.
It also didn’t help that Gilas struggled against the length of Lithuania on the defensive end, denying them shots inside the paint and forcing them to a poor 6-of-35 clip from deep.
CJ Amos paced Gilas with 10 points while Kurt Nathan Velasquez and Bonn Ervin Daja added eight and seven respectively.
Lithuania’s 6-foot-9 forward Arturas Butajevas was virtually unstoppable inside the paint with 22 points while Kajus Mikalauskas added 15 points.
Thanks to its scrappy defense, Gilas actually did a great job hanging around and not getting blown away, only trailing by nine, 34-25 midway through the second frame.
However, the defense as expected couldn’t hold up against the taller Lithuanians who unloaded 12 unanswered points to suddenly take a 21-point lead, 46-26 late in the first half.
The Filipinos were seemingly fighting a losing battle since then as the Lithuanians forced multiple turnovers on Gilas in the third frame to fuel a back-breaking 16-2 to take the fight out of their foes.
When the dust settled, Lithuania exploded for 35 points in that pivotal third frame while limiting Gilas to just seven points.
Making things worse, the road is nowhere getting easier for Gilas as it is facing last edition’s finalist Spain in less than 24 hours.
