Gilas U19 comes home pride intact

MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas youth squad may have failed to go deep into the FIBA U19 World Cup wars but head coach Sandy Arespochaga urged his wards to still hold their heads high owing to a  proud stand amidst all the adversities that hurdled their journey.

Out of the 16 teams, the Nationals only settled for a 14th place finish due to a 1-6 card marred by a painful 76-70 collapse against New Zealand in the battle for 13th place as the world youth meet came to a close the other night at the Heraklion University Hall in Greece.

The United States won the title by beating Mali, 93-79, in the finals. It was the seventh crown for the Americans following victories in 1979, 1983, 1991, 2009, 2013 and 2015.

Gilas youth squad’s 1-6 record certainly wasn’t a reflection of the fight the Filipinos gave and poured in battle, according to Arespacochaga.

“One of our goals was to compete from start to finish as we wanted to represent the country with pride,” Arespacochaga told The STAR in a brief chat while on the way back home from Greece.

Arespacochaga said the team’s fighting heart was on display through seven games despite the Nationals losing a key piece in 6-foot-11 Fil-Nigerian AJ Edu who suffered a tough ACL and meniscus tear on his right knee in the tournament opener against Greece.

Edu’s absence proved costly for the Filipinos but it also pulled other guys out from their shells as Dave Ildefonso, Gerry Abadiano, Dalph Panopio and especially Carl Tamayo stepped up to the plate to provide support for 7-foot-1 Kai Sotto after being reduced to a lone tower the rest of the way.

Despite their gritty stand, the inexperienced Filipino teens still fell short with losses against Greece (86-69), Argentina (77-72), Russia (92-64), Serbia (87-60), Australia (82-60) and New Zealand with a lone win against Asian rival China, 86-72.