THE Philippines crashed out of the FIBA U-17 World Cup following a 102-62 defeat at the hands of world number two Canada in the Round of 16 of the tournament on Wednesday (Thursday, Manila time) in Rosario, Argentina.
Batang Gilas missed all of their 14 attempts in the first quarter as Canada, led by 2020 recruitment four-star recruit Matthew-Alexander Moncrief, opened a 26-7 lead to break the game wide open for good.
It wasn’t until the eight-minute, two-second mark of the second quarter when the Philippines finally made a basket following Carl Tamayo’s short jumper but the powerhouse squad was just too far ahead at that point.
The lone bright spot for the Philippines was National University’s Gerry Abadiano who looked confident attacking the Canadians starting in the second half.
Abadiano had a fitting follow-up to his 17 point performance as he led the way for Batang Gilas with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.
Kai Sotto struggled to find his range as he made just five of his 18 shots from the field but nonetheless finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two shot blocks, and two steals. As a team, the Philippines just made 22 of their 65 attempts from the field good for 33.8 percent.
Moncrief was just unstoppable for Canada as he finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks as Benjamin Krikke added 13 points and seven boards.
Still, it’s a huge step up in terms of competition for the Philippine youth squad as it faced a Canadian team with four players high on the radar in the 2020 recruitment class led by five-star prospect Addisson Patterson. Patterson finished with eight points in limited minutes.
Combo guard Cashius McNeilly, another four-star prospect, finished with nine points, six rebounds and six assists for Canada who will be facing Australia in the quarterfinals.
Batang Gilas, on the other hand, is relegated to the classification stage after suffering a fourth straight setback.
The scores:
CANADA 102 – Moncrief 22, Krikke 13, Sakota 10, McNeilly 9, Hylton 9, Hemmings 9, Patterson 8, Barthelemy 7, Houstan 5, Rathanmayes 5, Minnot 4, Bediako 1
PHILIPPINES 62 – Abadiano 19, Sotto 16, Cortez 10, Tamayo 7, Lazaro 4, Guadania 3, Andrada 3, Calimag 0, Fortea 0, Chiu 0, Padrigao 0, Pascual 0
Quarters: 26-7, 51-26, 77-46, 102-62
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