GILAS Pilipinas Youth’s title hopes are still alive–barely.
The young Filipino cagers dropped a 58-75 loss to New Zealand last Wednesday night at the close of the group stage of the FIBA Under-18 Asia Cup at the Arena Complex in Amman, Jordan.
The loss, its second in a row after a 56-62 setback at the hands of host Jordan three days ago, left the Philippines in a knockout tiff with Japan at 9:30 tonight.
The Japanese finished second in Group C with a 2-1 record behind unbeaten China (3-0).
New Zealand showed the way in Group D with a perfect 3-0 mark followed by Jordan (2-1), the Philippines (1-2), and Indonesia (0-3).
Carter Hopoi starred for the Kiwis with 23 points and 16 rebounds while Tamatoa Isaac had 16 markers, nine boards, and six assists.
New Zealand took a 43-26 edge at the break.
Earl Medina sizzled with a game-high 30 points, 23 of them coming in the second half, on a near-perfect 7-of-8 clip from the two-point area and a 5-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc.
Medina’s two straight three-pointers shoved the troops of coach Josh Reyes to within 56-67 with 3:51 left.
But New Zealand countered with a 6-0 run to foil Gilas Youth’s last hurrah.
Mark Esperanza added 14 markers for the Philippines.
Only the top four finishers in the meet will gain slots to the FIBA U-19 World Cup next year in Switzerland.
