MANILA, Philippines -- Gilas Pilipinas boys continued free-falling in the FIBA U17 World Cup and dropped to their fifth straight loss in the tourney, this time at the hands of Argentina, 83-67, Friday night (Manila time) at the Ahmet Comert Sports Hall in Türkiye.
This is the Philippines' highest scoring output in the tournament thus far, but it is still not enough to stop their losing streak in the world cup.
Martin Torriani paced four Argentinians in double digits with 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Tyler Kropp chipped in 13, while Matias Domine chipped in 12 markers.
Gilas was well within striking distance early on, trailing by just five, 13-18, with a 3-pointer by Wacky Ludovice.
Argentina then ended the first canto with a 9-2 run to go up by 12, 27-15.
The World No. 16 country turned things up a notch in the second quarter, pushing the lead to 22 at the half.
It was enough separation to breeze through to the finish line, as the lead grew to as much as 29 points, 81-52, after a 3-pointer by Domine.
Gilas stormed back, cutting the lead to 14, 67-81, with 2:30 remaining after a Ludovice layup, but it was a case of too little, too late.
Kurt Velasquez spearheaded the Philippines with 17 markers. Bonn Daja added 15 markers and nine boards, while Edryn Morales and Ludovice had 13 and 12, respectively.
Gilas will continue its World Cup campaign Saturday with the classification matches.