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MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines bowed to mighty Serbia, 87-60, and left the hunt for a podium finish in the 2019 Fiba Under 19 Basketball World Cup Thursday in Heraklion in Crete, Greece.
Gilas Youth was still on the heels of the world no. 4 Serbians in the early part of the second quarter trailing by just four points, 22-18, but that was the Filipinos’ last hurrah.
Serbia went on a blistering 17-1 run to take a 39-19 lead after Dalibor Ilic found Pavle Kuzmanović for the layup with 3:16 left in the half and never looked back.
Dave Ildefonso led the 30th ranked Philippines, which has yet to win in four matches, with 18 points while Kai Sotto had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Pecarski finished with a game-high 21 points to go along six rebounds to lead Serbia while Filip Petrusev added 17 points and eight boards.
The Philippines will next play Australia in the classification stage for the ninth to 16th spots in the tournament on Friday.