GILAS Pilipinas Youth vies for a quarterfinal berth on Thursday morning when it battles Bahrain in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup at the Mbank Arena in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The Philippines, third placers in Group B with a 1-2 win-loss record, will look to arrange a quarterfinal match against China in their 11:30 a.m. contest. Standing in the way of the Filipinos are Bahrain, which finished second in Group A with a 2-1 win-loss slate.
READ: Here's how Gilas Youth can qualify to U17 World Cup
Gilas Youth hopes to finally discover its shooting as they are currently second to the last among the 12 teams which advanced to the knockout stage in field goal shooting with 33.5 percent during the group stage.
Gilas Youth is also shooting just 19.7 percent from threes, second-worst as well among the 12 squads that progressed.
Bahrain isn’t far behind though as it is eighth in the tournament with 37.7 percent and ninth in threes with 27.5 percent even with a pair of victories in the group stage.
For Gilas Youth to improve its chances of moving to the quarterfinals, they must contain Bahrain’s top two players in Hassan Oshobuge Abdulkadir and Somto Patrick Onoduenyi.
Abdulkadir and Onoduenyi averaged 22.5 points and 15.0 rebounds, and 21.3 points and 16.0 respectively during the group stage. They also posted a monster double-double in their 111-80 win over India last September 1, with Abdulkadir contributing 31 points and 12 rebounds and Onoduenyi amassing 30 points and 18 rebounds.
Gilas Youth players led by Prince Cariño (12.7 points, 6.7 rebounds) must double their efforts in order to contain Abdulkadir and Onoduenyi.
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