THE Philippine Under-18 youth squad dropped a crucial 74-71 decision to the vastly improved Thailand on Saturday night in the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia U-18 Championship in Tehran, Iran.
The loss was Batang Gilas’s third in four outings, making its encounter against India on early Thursday night a knockout match for the last quarterfinal slot in Group A.
The Filipino youth dribblers simply had no answer to Thai-Nigerian Justin Bassey, who posted 34 points, 21 rebounds, five assists and three blocks and provided the go-ahead basket in a tight contest.
It was the first win for the Thais but was the biggest as they have not beaten their Filipino rivals in the youth tournament for a very long time.
And Bassey, who is committed to play for Harvard University in the US NCAA tournament, was the biggest headache for Head Coach Mike Oliver throughout the game.
Team captain Jolo Mendoza led the team with 22 points, while JV Gallego added 20 markers.
The PHL 5 played catch-up most of the way before Mendoza gave the Philippines a 63-59 lead with 6:45 left in the game.
But the Thais scored the next six points and a three-pointer by Pongsatron Tabtim gave them a 68-63 cushion with 2:54 remaining.
Thailand was still ahead at 71-68 with a three-pointer, then Mendoza knotted the game for the last time with a triple of his own, 38 ticks left in the game.
Bassey came to the rescue in the next play for Thailand with a running jumper, 73-71, and the PHL 5 came out empty in the next possession that led to the split free throws of Suwichai Suwan, 74-71, 13 seconds remaining.
Gian Mamuyac had the chance to send the game in overtime but his three-point attempt at left corner rimmed out as time expired, sending the Thais in jubilation at center court.
The PHL 5 needed to win against India as a loss would eliminate them in the tournament. The Thais were also in a must win situation on Wednesday as they were playing the defending champion and Group A unbeaten leader China as of press time.
China, Chinese Taipei and India are already through the next round in Group A while Lebanon and South Korea have secure a spot in the knockout quarterfinal stage in Group B.
Host Iran, Japan and Kazakhstan were still fighting for the remaining two slots during the final day of the preliminaries on Wednesday.