Gilas Pilipinas aims to reaffirm its dominance in the region when it battles Indonesia for the gold medal of the Southeast Asia Basketball Association U16 Championship on Wednesday at the GOR Kertajaya in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Game time is at 7 p.m. with the young Gilas looking to register a victory that will serve as a fitting follow-up to their domination of Malaysia in the opener of this tourney that serves as a qualifier for the FIBA Asia U16 Championship.
De La Salle Zobel hotshot Kieffer Alas led the scoring parade as he scored 22 of his 27 points in the first half en route to a 94-52 victory over Malaysia last Monday.
But the son of former multi-titled coach Louie Alas wasn’t the only one who did the damage for the Filipinos as scoring ace Irus Chua and Filipino-Australian CJ Amos also scattered 16 points apiece to set the stage for the 42-point massacre.
The victory over the Malaysians was an absolute show of force for the team that scrambled for time after the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas was given a very late notice.
Josh Reyes, son of Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes, was assigned to serve as head coach with Allan Albano of Far Eastern University, Allen Ricardo of Letran high school and former Philippine Basketball Association guard Rob Labagala as deputies.
The Philippines has won the last four editions of this event since 2011.
But with the stakes getting higher as a FIBA Asia U16 berth will be up for grabs, the young cagers are going all out.
Aside from Alas, Chua and Amos, other members of the Batang Gilas team include Ziv Gabriel Espinas, son of former PBA player Gabby Espinas, Elijah Mark Williams, Joaquin Gabriel Ludovice, Kurt Nathan Velasquez, Bryan Hachuela, Edryn Morales, Bonn Ervin Daja, Gian Gomez and United States-based Filipino Paul Diao.
