The Gilas Pilipinas Under-17 men’s basketball team absorbed another defeat in the 2024 FIBA Basketball U17 World Cup.

This, after the Philippines fell to Spain, 96-34, during their group stage faceoff, late Sunday evening, June 30 (Manila time) at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Turkey.

Bonn Ervin Daja was the lone double-digit scorer for the Josh Reyes-coach squad with 12 points, and following him was Joaquin Ludovice, who finished with seven markers and two assists.

The nationals went scoreless for almost five minutes in the opening frame, and only tallied a bucket at the 5:17 mark, which came from a lay-in by Ludovice, but that happened to be their lone bucket in the first as they absorbed a 30-2 first quarter beat down from the Spaniards.

Gilas then saw themselves down by as much as 62, after back-to-back baskets by Eric del Castillo and Daniel Balde, and this eventually resulted in them tallying their second straight defeat in the World Cup in as many games.

They only tallied 14 turnovers in comparison to Spain’s 16, but this was enough for the world’s no. 2 U17 squad as they converted these to 16 points from turnovers and 32 fastbreak markers.

The Spaniards’ main weapon, on the other hand, was their height, as they displayed their might with a massive 71-22 rebounding advantage as well as a 27-to-6 lead on the offensive glass.

Meanwhile, leading Spain in scoring was Maximo Gacria-Plata, who had 15 together with nine assists, seven rebounds and a block, Guillermo del Pino followed with 14 and five dimes, while Del Castillo and Igancio Campoy both posted 13.

The Philippines, who is now 0-2 in Group A, will hope to get their first win on Tuesday, July 2, when they face world’s no. 15 Puerto Rico at 8:00 p.m. (ABS-CBN News)