GILAS Pilipinas Youth got its act together against a feisty Qatar side in a big fourth quarter breakaway and was rewarded with handsome dividends last Monday night.
The young Filipino dribblers humbled the Qataris 77-61 to stay unbeaten in Group C of the FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship at Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran.
Fil-Aussie big man Mason Amos shone for the Philippines anew with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Jared Bahay chipped in 15 markers, three boards, and three assists.
The win served as a big follow-up to the Josh Reyes-mentored crew’s 112-48 demolition of Syria in its opener last Sunday and hiked its mark to 2-0.
Amos and Bahay connived in a telling 12-1 spurt to open the final canto that enabled Gilas Youth to erect a 66-49 spread on a James Nacua layup with 6:52 to go and take the fight out of Qatar.
The nationals trailed 34-35 at the half but charged back and grabbed a 54-48 edge heading into the payoff period.
Gilas Youth clashed with Chinese Taipei for a sweep of its group play campaign last night.
Reyes’ wards are bidding to clinch a slot in FIBA U-19 World Cup in Hungary next year.
Mohammed Hashim Abbasher and Moustapha Ndao scored 14 points each for Qatar, which slipped to 0-2.
The accumulative records of all the squads from all the groups will determine which teams will advance to the quarterfinals of the tourney.