Gilas Youth defeats Al-Rayyan in Doha tune-up

The Gilas Pilipinas Under-19 squad showed their balance in defeating Qatari club team Al-Rayyan in their tune-up game on Monday. While Kai Sotto still led the way with 19 points, everyone else chipped in. Rhayan Amsali and Gerry Abadiano tallied nine points each while Shaun Chiu made eight markers.

Joshua Ramirez, AJ Edu, and Xyrus Torres all had six points each in the victory. Terrence Fortea and Dave Ildefonso joined the scoring fray with four apiece while Dalph Panopio added three. Carl Vincent Tamayo, Miguel Andre Oczon, and John Bismarck Line all played but did not register points.

The game was close early as Gilas Youth owned a 13-12 advantage by the five-minute mark of the first quarter. However, Coach Sandy Arespacochaga’s wards turned it up a notch and never looked back. A 9-2 run extended their lead to 22-14 by the end of quarter number one.

The Philippine representatives for the FIBA Under-19 World Cup 2019 just kept adding to their advantage. Halftime came to the tune of 37-26 and the third quarter finished at 58-39. The game ended with a 79-54 count for Gilas. Their lead grew to as much as 30 points, 79-49, in the latter part of the game.

It was a total team effort as the young guns as they collected 20 points off turnovers and 21 points in transition. Bench scoring went Gilas’ way as well, 35-23.

They also dominated all field goal categories. They shot a shade under 55% from the two-point area and 37% from three. Compare that to Al Rayyan’s 44% and 13%, respectively. However, free throw shooting would be Gilas Youth’s room for improvement as they converted on 67% of their charities. In contrast, the Qatari squad sank 82% of theirs.

The Filipinos distributed the ball well, resulting to 26 assists while committing only 15 turnovers. Al Rayyan only had 11 dimes and 23 turnovers. Gilas also shut down their opponent’s offense with six blocks. Three of those came from Edu and two courtesy of Sotto. Edu also led all rebounders with seven.

Gilas Pilipinas Youth is set to face Al Rayyan again for another tune-up match before flying to Greece for the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Championship. They will also have the opportunity to visit the Philippine embassy in Doha and meet the Filipino community in the Middle Eastern nation.