Gilas Youth clobbers Malaysia, nears title

Gilas Pilipinas Youth wrapped up its elimination round campaign on a high note, booking a 96-61 win over Malaysia to advance to the title match of the FIBA U16 Asia Cup SEABA Qualifiers late Thursday at the Bren Z. Guiao Sports Complex in San Fernando City in Pampanga.

Travis Pascual and Jeremiah Antolin were impressive as they led the scoring parade for Gilas squad, which is facing Indonesia in the title match at press time.

Regardless of the result, both Gilas and the Indonesians are already assured of berths in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup that will be held in Mongolia in September.

After flirting with disaster before beating Indonesia by just nine points on Wednesday, 77-68, a deadlier, more fluid Gilas squad showed up to set the stage for the 35-point massacre of the Malaysians.

The Filiponos shattered a 7-all deadlock early on with a sizzling 21-5 rally to close the first period with a 28-12 spread that demoralized the Malaysians and dictate the tempo the rest of the way.

Pascual and Antolin came off the bench to drop 15 points apiece with the former adding five points and four rebounds while the latter posting four rebounds and one steal.

Another member of the second unit in Prince Cariño also had a solid performance with a huge double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds while Evaraigne Cruz chipped in 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals for the boys of head coach LA Tenorio.

“I really had to be hard on the boys because we lost our focus and discipline,” said Tenorio, who passed with flying colors in his international head coaching debut.

“We played individually thinking that we could easily beat our foes. I reminded them to always stay focused on everything you do.”

Malaysia closed its elimination round campaign with a 2-3 win-loss record. They will face Thailand in the bronze medal match of this prestigious age-group event.