Gilas Pilipinas Boys have their backs against the wall after Day 1 of the FIBA 3×3 Under-23 World Cup.
The Philippines dropped its opening two games on Wednesday, falling to New Zealand, 21-11, before suffering a 21-15 defeat to Spain at Hongshan Riverfront Park in Wuhan, China.
The Philippines sits in fourth place in Group A after the opening day, ahead of Egypt on points scored, 26-24. Latvia and Spain share the top spot with identical 2-0 records, while New Zealand sits third at 1-1.
Against New Zealand, Gilas fell behind 11-4 early before Earl Medina, Malcolm Tyler, and Cabs Cabonilas trimmed the deficit to four, 11-7, with 6:02 remaining.
The Kiwis responded with a run of their own, however, stretching their lead to 16-9.
New Zealand then caught fire, before Chris Martin put the game away with 3:41 remaining.
Medina led the Philippines with six points against New Zealand.
Gilas put up a stronger fight against Spain in its second game, but the Philippines could not complete the comeback.
With Spain holding an 11-9 lead, Fernando Moure and Hugo Roldan knocked down back-to-back two-pointers before Juan Garcia Guerrero capped the rally to give Spain a 16-9 advantage.
Spain controlled the game from there, with Jordi Colet scoring the winning point with 1:06 remaining.
Cabonilas and Tyler led Gilas with six and five points, respectively, against Spain.
Jedric Daa completed the Philippine quartet.
Gilas will look to bounce back on Friday when it faces Latvia and Egypt in its final two games of the group stage.
