Gilas Pilipinas Boys suffered a huge blow to their FIBA U17 World Cup campaign after team's leading scorer Kieffer Alas was ruled out of the  tournament due to an apparent knee injury.

Alas sustained the injury during the team’s tuneup game against Canada and already underwent an MRI test in Istanbul, Turkey to determine the extent of his injury.

"Unfortunately he is out for the World Cup," Gilas boys head coach Josh Reyes confirmed to Manila Bulletin in a short text message.

Taking his place in the Final 12 is reserve Champ Arejola.

Without Alas, who was averaging 15.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists enough to be named into the All-star five of the FIBA U16 Asian Championships last year, guys like Kurt Nathan Velasquez, Joaquin Ludovice, Irus Chua are expected to step up.

The rest of the crew in Elijah Williams, Cletz David Amos, Edryn Morales, Bonn Daja, Paul Diao, Jaime Gomez De Liaño, Samuel Alegre, and Noah Banal should also collectively pick up the slack as the already tough mountain climb becomes even steeper in Alas’ absence.

The Nationals are set to open their campaign on Saturday, June 29, when they take on world No. 7 Lithuania before immediately battling No. 2 Spain the next day. Gilas takes a day's rest before wrapping up the group phase with a clash against No.15 Puerto Rico.