Gilas youth sweeps FIBA Asia prelims

MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas U18 clobbered Chinese Taipei, 84-73, and topped Group C via sweep of the preliminary round in the FIBA U18 Asian Championship yesterday at the Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran, Iran.

Though assured of quarterfinals entry, the Gilas boys still stepped on the pedal behind another fine outing from Filipino-Australian ace Mason Amos to win the duel of unbeaten teams.

On Monday, Gilas secured a quarters spot after trampling Qatar, 77-61, in a followup to a 112-48 rout of Syria Sunday.

Amos, the prized recruit of Ateneo in the UAAP, punished Chinese Taipei with 28 points on an efficient 60-percent clip to go with six rebounds and three assists.

The 6-foot-7 Amos dropped 13 markers in the pivotal fourth quarter including the clutch bucket in the last two minutes to help Gilas pull away at 79-68.

James Nacua backstopped Amos with 16 markers while Joshua Coronel and Seven Gagate cashed in nine apiece for Gilas under the watch of coach Josh Reyes.

Against Qatar, Amos collected 19 points and seven rebounds as Jared Buhay chipped in 15 markers.

Gilas has yet to know its opponent in the quarterfinals depending on the draw after the group play among the rest of the top eight teams from the 10-squad cast.

Usual FIBA format has four groups of 12 teams with the top two from each pool advancing in the knockout playoffs.

Other groups that haven’t finished play feature Iran, Japan and Lebanon in Group A as well as China, South Korea and India in Group C.

Gilas is eyeing to replicate or surpass the Final Four finish of the last Philippine U18 team in the 2018 Asian tilt led by men’s team stalwart Kai Sotto.