ANTIPOLO, Philippines – Gilas Youth saw the end of the road to its World Cup bid after suffering a 109-83 beating from Australia in the quarterfinals of the FIBA U16 Asian Championship in Doha, Qatar on Friday, June 17.

The Filipinos savored a 17-point lead in the first half but crumbled in the last two quarters as they got the boot in the tournament that serves as a qualifier for the FIBA U17 World Cup in July.

Only the top four finishers in the Asian Championship will advance to the World Cup in Malaga, Spain.

Jared Bahay dropped 11 of his 14 points in the first half and scored a stepback jumper that gave Gilas Youth its biggest lead of the game at 45-28 before the Aussies clawed their way back in the 43-point turnaround.

Australia, the defending champion, outscored the Philippines 62-32 in the second half as it banked on stellar performances from Kye Savage and Joshua Dent to avoid the upset ax.

Savage chalked up 27 points on a 6-of-10 shooting from three-point land, while Dent flirted with a triple-double after churning out 17 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 steals.

Renzo Competente paced Gilas Youth off the bench with 18 points on an ultra-efficient 4-of-5 clip from deep to go with 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Caelum Harris put up 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 blocks in the loss, while Alex Konov tallied 13 points.

Gilas Youth will face the loser between Korea and Lebanon on Saturday in the classification stage.

The Scores

Australia 109 – Savage 27, Dent 17, Devers 14, Briggs 10, Rapp 9, O’Donnell 8, Zikarsky 7, Hughes 6, Siulepa 4, Furphy 4, Brewer 3, Ferronato 0.

Philippines 83 – Competente 18, Harris 14, Konov 13, Bahay 13, Bayla 9, Mahmood 7, Porter 6, Nieto 3, Jones 0, Gemao 0, Reyes 0.

Quarters: 24-29, 47-51, 76-68, 109-83.

– Rappler.com