By Peter Atencio
Mason Amos took charge again as Batang Gilas came off with 77-61 crushing of Qatar for its second straight win in Group C of the 2022 FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship, Monday at the Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran, Iran.
This allowed Team Philippines to follow up on its 112-48 swamping of Syria Monday with another big win to share the lead with Chinese Taipei.
The victory also kept them in contention for a quarterfinals slot after Chinese Taipei won over Syria, 81-60.
The Filipinos were behind, 40-41, midway through the third quarter when Joshua Coronel and Amos struck with back-to-back treys to trigger an 11-2 blast.
The salvo gave Batang Gilas a 54-46 spread in the last 56 seconds.
Gilas and Chinese Taipei will face off on Tuesday for the no. 1 seeding in their bracket.
Jared Bahay added 15 points for the Filipinos.
