GILAS Pilipinas Youth’s quest for a World Cup ticket got off to a flat start.
The Nationals were dealt a rude 106-82 welcome defeat by No. 51 Chinese Taipei in the 2025 FIBA U16 Asia Cup opener over the weekend to stare at a harder FIBA U17 World Cup route in the last two games at the Buyant Ukhaa Sport Complex in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Listed No. 35 in the world, the higher-ranked Gilas has to win against regional rival Indonesia, a 96-54 loser to No. 15 New Zealand, at press time before New Zealand on Tuesday to avoid elimination.
Only the top team from each group will advance straight to the quarterfinals. The second and third-ranked squads figure in a qualification knockout while the bottom team gets the boot.
And the charges of former Gilas skipper-turned-head coach LA Tenorio missed out on that top-seed finish right out of the gates with a stunning 24-point defeat to the lower-seeded Taipei, no thanks to a dismal 42-57 start at the half.
Gilas, which swept the SEABA Qualifiers last summer at home to make it to the Asian tourney, never recovered from there, trailing by as many as 30 points as ace player and UAAP Finals MVP Gab delos Reyes of University of the East bled for just five points.
Stepping up for him were Prince Cariño and Jeremiah Antolin fired 23 and 11 points, respectively, for the Nationals, whose 30 turnovers and a paltry three-of-13 clip from beyond the arc hurt their chances.
Wang I-Le accounted for three treys for 24 points, five rebounds and three steals while Hsiao Cheng-Che (13) and Lu Shu-Wei (10) chipped in solid contributions. Brian Orca, Jr. added seven points and 13 rebounds.
Under former mentor Josh Reyes, Gilas also went through the qualification in 2023, beating South Korea and Japan in the process to finish behind Australia, New Zealand and China for its third World Cup appearance in history.
Turkey will host the U17 World Cup once again next year featuring four spots from Asia. — John Bryan Ulanday
