Gilas youth bows to Koreans, will play for 7th place in FIBA U16 Asian Championship
MANILA, Philippines — The Gilas Pilipinas U16 team has been relegated to the battle for seventh place in the FIBA U16 Asian Championship after losing to Korea, 77-88, in their classification game in Doha, Qatar on Saturday.
Just moments after their older compatriots lost to Korea in their friendly over in Gyeonggi-do, the Gilas youngsters also failed to overcome their Korean counterparts.
Gilas, which only led the game with the opening basket, 2-0, fell against a hot shooting Korea team as the latter dictated the pace and kept the Filipinos playing catch up.
Though Gilas was able to fight back from a 14-point hole to get within four, 59-63, off a Jacob Bayla layup with 8:56 left in the game, Korea unleashed an 11-2 scoring run to lead by twin digits anew, 74-61, with five minutes remaining.
The lead proved insurmountable for the Gilas youth as they now have to face the loser between Iran and India in the other classification game. The winner will finish seventh in the tournament.
Jared Bahay was the bright spot for Gilas in the losing effort with 25 points, nine assists, four rebounds, one steal and one block.
Zain Mahmood and Caelum Harris added 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
Mingyo Ku topped the scoring column for Korea with 21 points.
Gilas plays in the battle for seveth place on Sunday.
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