Gilas boys fall to Kiwis for 3rd spot

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas boys succumbed to unbeaten New Zealand, 75-58, to finish at third spot in Group D of the 2024 FIBA U18 Asia Cup late Wednesday night at the As Salt Arena Complex in Amman, Jordan.

The tough defeat relegated Gilas (1-2) to the qualification to the quarterfinals featuring the second and third-ranked squads from the four groups as New Zealand (3-0) topped Group D and punched an outright berth in knockout quarterfinals.

Ranged against the taller Kiwis, ranked No. 27 in FIBA youth, Gilas was overwhelmed right off the bat with an early 23-9 deficit and could not recover from there on en route to its second straight loss.

Gilas, world No. 25 and the highest in its group, also fell short against the host Jordan (No. 51) with a 62-56 loss after making easy work of Southeast Asian rival Indonesia (No. 73), 75-48.

Without injured ace player Andy Gemao, John Earl Medina took the cudgels for Gilas with 30 points on five treys but only drew coverage from Mark Airick Esperanza with 14 points.

Though now in a tougher journey, Gilas still sports a chance in a knockout qualification against Japan at 9:30 p.m. Friday for a slot in the Top 8 with the ultimate goal of making it to the semifinals.

Only the Top 4 teams from the Asian tourney will qualify in the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Carter Hopoi (23), Tamatoa Isaac (16) and Kahu Treacher (11) led New Zealand which also drubbed Jordan, 71-62, and Indonesia, 89-43.

Joining New Zealand in the quarterfinals are fellow unbeaten leaders Australia, South Korea and China from Groups A, B and C, respectively