Gilas Youth survives Indonesia for 1st win in FIBA U16 Asia Cup

Gilas Pilipinas Youth bounced back from its tough opening-day loss in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup with a hard-earned 65-60 win against Indonesia at the MBank Arena in Mongolia on Monday, September 1. Prince Carino (198-F-2009), the lone bright spot for the Philippines in its 106-82 defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei the day prior, came through the clutch and sealed the victory for the Filipinos with a putback layup with just eight seconds left as they improved their record to 1-1 in Group B action. The win put Gilas Youth in a favorable position to advance to the knockout rounds, with the No. 1 team in the group earning an outright last eight spot and the No. 2 and 3 squads eligible for the qualification to the quarterfinals.

Undefeated New Zealand leads Group B with a 2-0 record, Chinese Taipei totes a 1-1 card, while Indonesia dropped to 0-2 after the loss.
The LA Tenorio-mentored Gilas Youth was already ahead by two possessions, 63-57, after a corner triple by Joel Pascual with 35.7 ticks remaining before Indonesia got back to within just 3 points off an and-one play by Galih Putra Kharisma following a turnover by Ethank Tan-Chi (178-G-2009). Tan-Chi had an opportunity to make up for his costly error with two free throws with 10.7 seconds to play, but the second-generation guard missed both his foul shots. Luckily for the Philippines, Cariño was in the right place at the right time for the offensive rebound and the game-sealing basket that put Indonesia away for good. Tan-Chi led Gilas Youth’s balanced scoring with 12 points, while Pascual and Andwele Cabañero scattered 11 and 10, respectively. Jhello Lumague added 9 points and Cariño followed up his 23-point performance on Sunday, August 31, with 6 points. Brian Orca also came up huge for the Philippines with his 13 rebounds and 4 assists as the Filipinos controlled the rebounding department, 52-42, and tallied 15 assists compared to Indonesia’s 6. Muhamad Fakhrial Firdaus and Miracle Christiano (177-PG-2010) paced Indonesia with 13 points each. A tough challenge awaits Gilas Youth as it faces New Zealand, which coasted to a 101-82 rout of Chinese Taipei earlier in the day, on Tuesday, September 2.
Courtesy of: rappler.com