Gilas Pilpinas Boys Under-18 headed to Tehran, Iran on Friday morning bringing exactly 12 players for the 2022 FIBA Under-18 Asian Championships.
Two players from the under-16 squad that competed last month in the tournament in Doha, Qatar were called up in Jared Bahay of Ateneo de Cebu and Kristian Porter of Ateneo de Manila.
Bahay averaged 13.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists while Porter normed 6.8 points and 5.0 rebounds, helping Gilas Youth finish in seventh place in Doha.
The La Salle system will be well-represented in the squad as De La Salle University’s EJ Abadam, Mur Alao, and LA Andres and La Salle Greenhills’ Joshua Coronel, Luis Pablo, and Seven Gagate were also called up.
Ateneo-commits Mason Amos and Kyle Gamber also made the team. Yes, FIBA approved Gamber to play as a local.
Completing the squad are UPIS project Kobe Demisana and San Beda winger James Nacua.
The tough cuts from the team were Ethan Alian, Drex delos Reyes, Ramon Salvoro, Xavier Chio, and Nathan Victoria.
Head coach of the team is Josh Reyes.
Gilas Youth is slotted in Pool C with Syria (August 21, 7:15 PM), Qatar (August 22, 7:15 PM), and Chinese-Taipei (August 23, 5:00 PM).
Back in 2018, the Philippines finished in fourth place to qualify for the 2019 Worlds.
