THE Philippine national boys under-17 team fell in its debut in the 2018 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup, losing to Croatia, 97-75, early Sunday morning (Manila time) at the Newell’s Old Boys in Rosario, Argentina.
Despite getting a solid 23 points and 12 rebounds from big man Kai Sotto, the Filipino boys just could not much the firepower of the Croatians throughout the match en route to slumping to the defeat.
Croatia opened the proceedings with an 8-0 blast in the first three minutes of the contest and never looked back after.
It held a 25-15 lead at the end of the first quarter, before padding it to a 13-point cushion, 44-31, by the halftime break.
The second half proved to be even tougher for Batang Gilas as its opponent cranked things up, racing to a 71-49 advantage at the end of the third period and extending it to its biggest lead of 32 points, 85-53, at the 7:13 mark of the fourth quarter.
Batang Gilas managed to trim down its deficit after, eventually settling for the 97-75 final score.
Guard Terrence Fortea finished with 14 points to backstop Sotto with Raven Cortez and Carl Tamayo adding 13 and 12 points each.
Matej Rudan led Croatia to the win with 16 points, followed by Matej Bosnjak with 14, Ivan Gulin 13 and Roko Prkacin 10 points.
Next for Batang Gilas, which is bracketed in Group D, is an encounter with France early Monday morning.
As per tournament format, the teams in each of the four groupings play their group mates for positioning after which they play in a crossover encounter with those from other groups.
Group D teams, which also include host team Argentina, will battle those from Group C which features Canada, Egypt, New Zealand and Montenegro.
While they recognize that it is not going to be easy for them in the tournament, the Batang Gilas think tank said in the lead-up that it would not deter them from their goals of having a better showing in the tournament and furthering the program they have set under the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
“We are not necessarily looking at it as the Group of Death but rather we are approaching it as the Philippines very fortunate to be able to compete with some of the best teams in the world,” said coach Michael Oliver.
“We’re happy for the players for the opportunity because this does not happen very often; that they get to play these teams. You only get to play them when you qualify in big tournaments,” Mr. Oliver said.
The 2018 edition of the U17 FIBA Basketball World Cup marks the second time the Philippines is competing in the tournament.
The U17 FIBA Basketball World Cup happens from June 30 to July 8. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

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