Gilas Youth falls to Australia, stays winless in Fiba U19 World Cup

Sean Ildefonso vs Australian defender during a Fiba U19 World Cup match. Photo from Fiba.basketball

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines continued its winless spell in the 2019 Fiba Under 19 Basketball World Cup, this time losing to Australia, 82-60, in the classification stage Friday in Heraklion, Greece.

The Australians immediately took control of the match after taking an 11-0 lead on Samson Froling’s jumper off of Sean Macdonald’s assist 7:18 into the opening quarter.

Gilas Youth never had a chance to get into rhythm as the Australians continued their onslaught into the second quarter going on capping off a 17-8 run for a whopping 40-19 lead.

Dave Ildefonso led the Philippines’ offense with 13 points while Kai Sotto had a double-double of 12 points and 12 boards.

Gerry Abadiano also finished in double-digits with 12 points with all his field goals coming from beyond the arc.

Froling had 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks for the Australians, who can still finish as ninth seed, while Kody Stattman had 11 points.

The Filipinos, who went 0-3 in Group C, have yet to win a game in five matches so far and can settle for as high as 13th seed. They take on China next in the classification stage.