By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Gilas Boys held on to their defense in the waning minutes and survived a giant scare from Indonesia, 65-60, to barge into the win column of the 2025 FIBA U16 Asia Cup at the MBank Arena in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Monday, Sept. 1.
What many expected to be a lopsided game especially after the Nationals drubbed the Indonesians, 70-40, in SEABA qualifiers finals turned out to be a nip-and-tuck affair down the stretch.
The wards of head coach LA Tenorio had to bank on their defense to fuel a 9-5 run that gave Gilas the much-needed breathing space after a 56-all count inside the final four minutes of the contest.
Relatively quiet as compared to his 23-point performance in the opener, Prince Carino made his presence felt in the crunch, scoring four of his team’s last nine points including a clutch putback off two missed free throws of Ethan Tan Chi with eight seconds left to seal the win.
The 6-foot-7 center finished with six points and six rebounds to go with his three blocks and a steal. Tan Chi led the scoring this time with 12 points while Jolo Pascual had 11 points built on three triples – including one that broke the 56-all deadlock and put Gilas ahead for good.
He also had five assists to his name while Andwele Cabanero also reached double-figures with 10.
Brian Orca continued to provide the energy and intangibles after registering double-digit rebounding with 13 to go with his four points and four assists.
Although their three-point shooting remained a suspect after only making 5 of their 25 attempts, the Nationals had successfully limited their turnovers as, after recording 36 errors in the 108-86 loss to Chinese Taipei, only had 20 against the Indonesians.
Miracle Christiano and Muhammad Fakhrizal Firdaus paced the young Timnas with 13 apiece.
With the win, Gilas improved to a 1-1 record in the Group B standings. The Filipinos wrap up their group stage schedule against the undefeated New Zealand on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
The Junior Tall Blacks earlier blasted Chinese Taipei, 101-82.
