HINDI na makalalaro si Kieffer Alas para sa Gilas Pilipinas sa nalalapit na FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024.

Inihayag ni Gilas Pilipinas head coach Josh Reyes ang pagkawala ni Alas sa tean matapos magtamo ng knee injury sa kanilang tuneup game laban sa Canada kamakailan.
Napili naman si Champ Arejola upang humalili kay Alas sa 12-man national team.

“On initial examination by our team doctor, he had a functionally stable knee and the official result of his MRI determined Kieffer has a sprained ACL,” pahayag ni Reyes.

“His knee is swollen and he’ll be out for three weeks. We will be monitoring his situation closely.”

Bago ang laban sa Canada, hindi din nakalaro si Alas sa kanilang unang tuneup match laban sa Egypt sa Istanbul, Turkey, dahil sa stomach illness.

“It was unfortunate because we were playing really well against Canada in the first half,” pahayag ni Reyes.

“Against Egypt, we struggled and we didn’t have Kieffer so it was important for us to find another tuneup game to give him a chance to play.”

“Kieffer was doing a great job in playmaking, rebounding, and playing defense and this is his value to the squad, more than his scoring.”

Bago ang knee injury ni Alas, lumamang pa ang Gilas ng seven points sa second quarter.

“We were playing really good basketball at that point. We used our new sets, played good defense, and rebounded well against a team with four players taller than 6-foot-8, ” dugtong pa ni Reyes.