THE common denominator among Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore? They all tried to stop the Gilas Pilipinas Youth Under-16 team, but to no avail—not even close.
Barely breaking a sweat anew, the young Filipino dribblers massacred Singapore 103-37 last Monday night to stay unscathed in the FIBA U-16 Asia Cup SEABA qualifiers at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Singapore’s Fred Leow scored on a layup early on and drew a foul to boot before taunting Prince Carino, which earned the former a technical foul.
That proved to be an aberration as the wards of Gilas Youth coach LA Tenorio unleashed a killer 20-0 binge that broke the game wide open.
Gilas Youth tests the mettle of fellow undefeated squad Indonesia today before winding up its preliminary round stint against Malaysia tomorrow.
“We expected them to zone us because we had our struggles against the zone,” Tenorio said. “What I told them before the game was to just shoot. Sometimes we overthink against the zone. As long as the shots are within what we want on offense, they should let it fly. If they miss, then so be it.
“I think this was our best defensive game. We were not needlessly gambling for steals. We were more disciplined, and it showed with our best performance so far,” he added.
Six players hit double-figures for Gilas Youth, with Evaraigne Cruz firing 14 points while Justin Hallare added 13 markers.
Ethan Tan-Chi scored 12, and Andwele Cabanero and Rayver Restificar 11 apiece for the Philippines.
Birthday boy Travis Pascul nearly had a triple-double of 10 points, eight boards, and seven assists while Gab Delos Reyes came off the bench to collect seven markers, 13 caroms, six dimes, a steal, and seven big blocks.
“It’s great to have a player like Gab because he works hard on defense,” Tenorio said. “We need all our players to have this mentality because all of them can score but there are other things that we also need to pay attention to.”
