Gilas Boys suffer 45-point beatdown from Puerto Rico

MANILA, Philippines — The Gilas Pilipinas Boys team suffered another beatdown at the FIBA U17 World Cup, bowing to Puerto Rico this time by 45 points, 53-98, at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey on Tuesday evening (Manila time).Gilas thus finished the group play in Pool A winless at 0-3, being on the wrong end of a 62-point, 96-34 rout against Spain and 59-point, 48-107 drubbing from Lithuania in its first two games.Finishing at the bottom of Group A, the Philippines faces juggernaut Group B leader USA in the knockout round of 16 game on Wednesday in a game that may very well produce the same results as its first three games.USA went unscathed in its group (3-0) in a record-setting fashion, posting new highs in U17 World Cup history in points (146), assists (43), and steals (33) in its 146-62 domination of China on Tuesday.If the Filipinos are to pull off the improbable against the Americans, they need to start strong and finish strong which is something they failed to do against the Puerto Ricans.Gilas got off to an auspicious start to claim a 24-16 first quarter lead only to fade in the middle quarters where Puerto Rico dominated, 62-10, for a 78-34 advantage and never looked back.Joaquin Ludovice logged 13 points, three rebounds, and two assists for Gilas which has been playing without top gunner Kieffer Alas, who sustained a sprained knee just days before the tournament started.Kurt Velasquez was the only other Gilas player to have breached double-digit scoring with 10 markers on top of six assists, four rebounds, and two steals. Five players scored in double digits for Puerto Rico led by Jordan Dill who tallied 15 points, and five rebounds.