Gilas Pilipinas Youth guard Jared Bahay in action against Lebanon. FIBA.basketball
The Philippines saw its chances of advancing to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup evaporate in the face of a hot-shooting Lebanon team on Wednesday afternoon.
Gilas Pilipinas Youth faltered against Lebanon in their quarterfinal game in the FIBA U18 Asian Championships, 99-83, at the Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran, Iran.
The young Filipinos won all their games in Group C, but ran out of steam against Lebanon as they were playing their fourth game in as many days. Gilas Youth is now relegated to the classification phase of the tournament while Lebanon advances to the semis.
The victory also assured Lebanon of a spot in the FIBA U19 World Cup next year in Hungary.
Mason Amos had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Gilas Youth, while Kyle Gamber added 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Lebanon was quick to set the tone of the game, as they raced out to a 27-11 lead in the opening frame.
Gilas fell behind by as much as 37 points, 93-56, off a three-pointer by Bryan Mansour with seven-and-a-half minutes left to play.
The young Filipinos simply had no answer for Lebanon's three-point shooting all throughout the contest. Lebanon made a blistering 17 of their 30 attempts from long distance; Mansour made six of his eight attempts to finish with 28 points.
Karim Rtail, Lebanon's 6-foot-8 center, finished with 25 points after making four three-pointers. Karl Chris Zamatta had 10 points and 17 rebounds.
The Filipinos hoped to end the third quarter on a strong note, with Seven Gagate's layup trimming the deficit to 19 points, 74-53. But Karl Kozah and Mansour knocked down back-to-back triples in the final minute, and there was no coming back from there for Gilas.
Gilas Youth will play the loser of the game between Japan and Chinese Taipei in the classification phase.
The scores:
LEBANON 99 -- Mansour 28, Rtail 25, Kozah 18, Zamatta 10, Ab. Sabbagh 6, Sleiman 4, Al. Sabbagh 4, Assaf 4, Nasr 0, Alalia 0.
PHILIPPINES 83 -- Amos 11, Gamber 10, Abadam 9, Pablo 9, Demisana 9, Nacua 8, Coronel 8, Bahay 7, Gagate 6, Alao 3, Porter 3, Andres 0.
Quarters: 28-11, 53-35, 80-53, 99-83.
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