Gilas Pilipinas will head to the quarterfinal round of the FIBA U18 Asia Cup after pulling away from Syria, 72-63, in their qualification to the quarters clash Thursday afternoon at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium in India.
The Gilas boys will now face China in the quarterfinal round of the tourney.
George Aidan Green top-scored for the Philippines with 18 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block, while JB Cagurungan had 12 points. Lino Tubongbanua Jr. added 10 markers for the Filipino dribblers.
The game was tight at the half, with a late triple by Tubongbanua making it a 32-31 lead by Gilas after the first 20 minutes of play.
In the third quarter, the two teams were still kept in a close match, before Gilas took a 42-44 disadvantage with 1:32 remaining in the frame to a 51-44 lead heading to the fourth following a Cagurungan trey.
Syria, though, did not go down without a fight. They sliced the deficit to two, 49-51, after a layup by Majak Awutiak Majak, before the Philippines answered with an 8-0 run to make it a double digit advantage, 59-49, with 7:04 left.
The Syrians then made it a four-point game, 58-62, with 3:03 to go, before seven straight points by Ethan Aguas, Tubongbanua and Green pushed Gilas ahead to an insurmountable 69-58 lead with 1:41 left.
And while Taym Aldassouki, Yehia Kassas and Majak tried to mount a comeback for Syria, finishing touches by Luke Atacador and Patrick Pasinos iced the game.
Aguas and Atacador produced eight points apiece for Gilas.
Majak powered Syrua with 20 points, 13 rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Aldassouki and Kassas had 15 and 14 markers, respectively, for the losing team, which was sent to the classification round.
The matchup between the Philippines and China will be on Friday at the same venue.