Gilas Pilipinas Boys just couldn’t pull off the much-needed plays down the stretch, bowing to host Jordan, 62-56, and absorbing their first loss in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup at the Prince Hamza Hall early Wednesday, Sept. 4.

With the hosts gaining some headway and taking a double-digit lead halfway through the final frame, the Filipinos refused to just go down without a fight and rallied back into the contest behind the efforts of  Wilhalm Cabonilas and Mark Esperanza.

The brave fight, however, went futile in the end as timely hits from the young Falcons easily doused the late rally from Gilas and caught them in the standings with a similar 1-1 slate.

Esperanza tried to lead Gilas with 14 points and six assists but it was not enough as he was the lone Filipino in twin-digit scoring with Cabonilas already the second best scorer with only nine on his name.

In contrast, three players breached the double-digit mark for Jordan with Saif Al-Deen Saleh doing most of the damage with 14 points and 15 rebounds while Rawhi Zeid Kilani added 13.

Hadi Ammar Alshami had 10 for the young Falcons but his baskets came when they needed it the most as his back-to-back hits foiled a 12-3 spurt from the Filipinos that cut a once 12-point advantage, 52-40, to just three, 52-55.

He scored on a layup and then a tough jumper for Jordan to regain its footing with a 59-52 lead. 

Esperanza and Louis Perez delivered back-to-back hits for the Filipinos to keep in step, 59-56, but that proved to be the last stand Gilas could muster as it failed to complete the stops in the waning minutes.

It also didn’t help that Gilas shot miserably from deep with a 5-of-36 clip – a weapon that the team should maximize especially that it is missing its top gun Andy Gemao due to a hand injury.

Gilas wraps up its group stage assignment against a still perfect New Zealand (2-0), and a win, depending on the quotient, could still give them a shot at claiming an outright quarterfinals spot in the knockout round.