GILAS Pilipinas Youth suffered an 85-69 loss to Greece in its opening game in the 2019 Fiba Under-19 World Championship early Sunday morning (Manila time) at the Heraklion Indoor Sports Arena.
The Greeks took charge in the second half and pounced on the depleted Filipino frontline, burying 14 free throws in the payoff period alone to come away with the win.
Nikolaos Arsenopoulos led Greece with 18 points and three rebounds, as Aristotelis Sotiriou just missed out on a double-double with his 16 points, nine rebounds, and two assists while going 7-of-9 from the charity stripe.
Zois Karampelas and Emmanouil Chatzidakis both had 10 in the triumph for the hosts, as Greece went 28-of-46 from the 15-foot line.
The bigs of coach Sandy Arespacochaga battled foul trouble while Fil-Nigerian big man AJ Edu suffered an apparent right knee injury at the 7:57 mark of the first quarter.
Kai Sotto paced the Filipinos with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks.
Gerry Abadiano also had 13 points and seven rebounds, but committed six turnovers, as Dave Ildefonso got himself 12 points, four boards, and four dimes in the losing cause.
Despite the circumstances, the Philippines showed it belonged as it gave Greece everything it could handle, even leading by as much as 10, 22-12 early on, and was dead even in the battle of the boards, 43-all.
Turnovers, though, led to the Filipinos' downfall with the Greeks capitalizing on the 20 miscues, as well as the latter getting it done in the open court (14 to 2 for Greece) and in the paint (36 to 26 for Greece).
Gilas Youth goes back to the drawing board as it prepares for world No. 9 Argentina on Monday (Manila time) at 1 a.m.
The scores:
GREECE 85 -- Arsenopoulos 18, Sotiriou 16, Karampelas 10, Chatzudakis 10, Arnokouros 9, Bazinas 7, Sandramanis 5, Rogkavopoulos 4, Chougkaz 4, Voulgaropoulos 2, Georgalas 0.
PHILIPPINES 69 -- Sotto 13, Abadiano 13, Ildefonso 12, Tamayo 9, Fortea 7, Spencer 4, Amsali 4, Torres 3, Panopio 2, Chiu 2, Oczon 0, Edu 0.
Quarters: 20-27, 42-41, 63-57, 85-69.
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