Gilas Youth came up empty handed as they finished without a win in their group in the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup early Thursday morning (Philippine time) inside Heraklion Indoor Sports Arena in Greece.
The Filipinos faced world no. 4 Serbia and took a 60-87 setback.
Dave Ildefonso and Kai Sotto led the Filipinos with Ildefonso topscoring with 18 points, three rebounds, and two assists while Sotto tallied 13 markers, eight boards, and three assists.
The Philippines, who bowed to Russia, 64-92, at the end of the Group stage the other day, will move on to the classification round even as the Serbians advance to the quarterfinals.
Gilas Youth started strong and had a 12-8 edge early before crumbling to a 33-9 run mounted by the Serbians.
Filip Petrusev led the Serbians during the first two quarters and finished with 17 markers in as many minutes on the floor.
Marco Pecarski showed the way for Serbia in the second half when they broke the game wide open. He finished with 21 points and 6 rebounds.
Serbia moves on to a showdown with third-ranked Lithuania in the quarterfinals.
The Philippines can still get their best finish since ending up in 10th-place back in 1979.
To do so, the Philippines will have to hurdle world no. 10 Australia at the start of the classification round on Friday.
The Philippine campaign suffered a big blow after big man AJ Edu went down with an injury. Edu returned to the US to prepare for an immediate operation on his injured knee.
Edu, 19, left Heraklion, Greece early Wednesday morning. He had time to watch the Filipinos’ final preliminary game in Group C against Russia.
Edu headed back to Ohio to undergo surgery after badly hurting his knee during the Filipinos’ opening day game against Greece.
According to official reports, the Cyprus-born Filipino suffered an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and meniscal tear on his right knee. He also had a hairline fracture on his right femur bone.
The Fiba Under-19 Basketball World Cup (formerly Fiba Under-19 World Championship) is a men’s under-19 only world basketball competition under the auspices of the International Basketball Federation (Fiba).
It was held every four years from 1979 until 2007. Since 2007, it has been held every two years. The current champions are Canada, who beat Italy 79 to 60 in July 2017. This is Canada’s first ever medal in the event.