Gilas Youth mauls Malaysia, sets up title match vs Indonesia

Gilas Pilipinas Youth completed a five-game sweep in the elimination round of the FIBA U16 Asia Cup SEABA Qualifiers after a 96-61 win over Malaysia at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga last Thursday.

Travis Pascual and Jeremiah Antolin both dropped 15 points as the Philippines enters the finals as the top-seeded team in the competition.

The Philippines finished the first quarter with a 28-12 lead and never trailed for the rest of the game.

Still, head coach LA Tenorio wanted his boys to stay focused on the game.

“Well, I just have to be really hard on the boys because we’re drifting away from our discipline and our system. We’re kind of playing selfishly, maybe because they think that we can easily beat our opponents,” Tenorio said.

Gilas Youth will be facing Indonesia once again, this time for all the marbles, on Friday at 7 p.m. at the same venue.

The Philippines, which clinched a spot for the FIBA U16 Asia Cup on July in Mongolia, will be entering the championship match full of confidence after beating the Indonesians, 77-68, last Thursday.