BUOYED by a dashing debut three days ago, the Gilas Pilipinas Under-18 squad dropped a sorry one last Tuesday night.
The young Filipino dribblers fell 56-62 to host Jordan in the FIBA Under-18 Asia Cup at the Prince Hamza Sports Hall in Amman.
The loss dropped the Philippines to a 1-1 slate in Group D tied with Jordan for second heading to its final group play match against unbeaten New Zealand at press time last night.
The wards of coach Josh Reyes still have a chance of reaching the quarterfinals either outright by emerging as the top team in their group or through a play-in where the next two squads in each group clash in a qualification round.
Gilas Youth launched its bid in the continental tilt with a 75-48 rout of Indonesia but went ice-cold against the Jordanians with a sordid 5-of-36 shooting from beyond the arc.
Mark Esperanza showed the way for Gilas Youth with 14 points and six assists while Cabs Cabonilas had nine markers but shot a measly 2-of-8 from the field.
Jordan outworked the Philippines on the glass 58-38 while also pulling 20 offensive rebounds against Gilas Youth’s 10.
Gilas Youth zoomed to a 34-20 lead in the second quarter, but Jordan’s late assault enabled it to take a 36-34 buffer at the half.
Jordan opened the fourth with a 7-0 run to take its biggest lead 52-40.
Esperanza’s lay-up shoved the Philippines to within 59-56 with 50 seconds left, but Jordan hit its free throws in the end game to foil Gilas Youth’s uprising.
