Gilas Youth falls to Lebanon, misses out on World Cup berth

After sweeping the group stage, Gilas Pilipinas Youth found a tough nut to crack in Lebanon and lost in lopsided fashion, 99-83, Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the FIBA U18 Asian Championship at the Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran, Iran.

A victory would’ve propelled the Filipinos into the tournament’s Final 4 and more importantly a seat in next year’s FIBA U19 World Cup in Hungary.

The Philippines earlier won over Syria, Qatar, and Chinese Taipei but fell to the classification round courtesy of the stinging loss to the Lebanese.

Mason Amos, the 6-foot-7 Fil-Aussie who’s been on the forefront of the country’s campaign with a tournament-leading scoring average of 24.3 points to go along with 5.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 steals, was held to 11 markers on 3-of-7 shooting in 23 minutes of play.

Aside Amos, only Kyle Gamber was able to score in double figures with 10.

The Filipinos shot horribly from the field, draining only 29 out of 82 attempts for a shooting clip of 35.4%. The Lebanese, on the other hard, converted 40 out of 84 attempts (56.7%) with 17-of-30 coming from the 3-point area.

Gilas Youth will take on Chinese Taipei on Friday, August 26 in the classification phase for 5th to 8th spots.

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.

Quarterscores: 28-11, 53-35, 80-53, 99-83.