GILAS Pilipinas Youth was dealt a big blow to its FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup campaign with Kieffer Alas ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury.
Head coach Josh Reyes confirmed Alas’ impending absence after he sustained an injury in a recent tune-up game against Canada. Reyes said it was just unfortunate since the national team was playing very well in the friendly until its top gun got hurt.
“Our team was looking real good. There was a sense of everything coming together at the right time,” he said.
“We were up by as much as seven points in the second quarter then Kieff went down around halfway in the quarter.”
Reyes said the team is still waiting for the MRI result as to the extent of the injury.
DLSZ teammate Champ Arejola is taking Alas' place in the squad that also has Kurt Nathan Velasquez, Elijah Williams, Cletz Amos, Edryn Morales, Joaquin Ludovice, Irus Chua, Bonn Ervin Daja, Paul Cyron Diao, Jaime Gomez De Liano, Samuel Alegre, and Noah Banal.
The big void left behind by Alas
The younger brother of NLEX star Kevin and son of veteran mentor Louie was coming off a campaign in the FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship last year where he was named to the All-Star Five (Mythical Five) alongside MVP Oscar Goodman and Lachlan Crate of New Zealand, Henry Sewell of Australia, and Boyuan Zhang of China.
The 6-foot-2 Alas averaged 15.6 points and 8.6 rebounds in Gilas Youth’s semifinals run in the Asian Championships where they ultimately placed fourth after losing to China for the bronze.
Nonetheless, the fourth-place finish earned Gilas a spot in the Under-17 World Cup in Istanbul, Turkey.
The news comes as Gilas Youth is set to face Lithuania on Saturday to open hostilities then Spain on Sunday in Group A. Lithuania placed fourth in the last edition of the U17 World Cup in 2022, as Spain finished runner-up against the US.
The Philippines closes the group stage against Puerto Rico on Tuesday.
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