The Philippine national youth basketball team mounted an epic fourth quarter comeback to hand host Qatar a heartbreaking 82-79 defeat in the second round of the FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship in Doha.

Batang Gilas came back from a whopping 15-point deficit in the final period behind booming three-pointers and some excellent play in the clutch to overcome Qatar and open their second round with a bang.

Dave Yu led the way with 16 points, including three consecutive triples in the fourth that kicked off the Philippine rally, while three other Filipinos – Radge Tongco, Kobe Paras and Paul Desiderio – contributed 13 points apiece.

Tongco, the Philippines’ leading scorer who was averaging 24 points per contest, struggled mightily for three and a half quarters before coming alive in crunch time, scoring seven of the team’s last 14 points.

Qatar started out hot behind Abdulrahman Mohamed Saad, who scored 15 of his team’s first 19 points as the hosts took a nine-point first quarter lead, 21-12.

Batang Gilas, behind some instant offense from Desiderio, charged right back with a 7-1 run to close the period trailing by just three, 22-19.

The Filipinos claimed the lead in the second period amidst an 8-0 run spearheaded by Paras, who gave the Philippines a taste of the lead at 38-37, and Yu, who added another basket to cap the rally.

Despite a huge 22-point output from Saad, it was the Philippines leading at the half, 40-39.

Saad went to back to work in the third, scoring 13 of Qatar’s first 19 points. The forward knocked down three three-pointers to lead his squad to an 11-point advantage, 58-47, which they were able to maintain until the end of the third.

The Filipinos, who trailed 64-53, were outscored 25-12 in the third.

In the fourth, Mohamed Gameil Abed and Abdelrahman Yehia Abdelhaleem opened with back-to-back baskets that pushed the lead to as high as 15 points, 68-53, at the 7:43 mark.

But Yu caught fire from beyond the arc, knocking down three consecutive triples to cut the deficit down to just eight, 70-62, with over six minutes to left to play.

Desiderio joined the party a little while later with a three-pointer of his own, bringing Batang Gilas to seven, 72-65, before Chino Mosqueda hit the team’s fifth three-pointer of the quarter to make it a six-point game, 74-68.

Tongco, who was 2-for-15 from the field at that point, then found his deadly touch at just the right time.

He scored two points to make it 74-70 with just 2:28 minutes remaining before later following a Chino Mosqueda basket with two more, bringing the Filipinos to within a sinle point with 1:02 remaining.

Qatar scored on their next offensive but Tongco came up big yet again. The San Beda guard missed his first shot but stuck with to score on a second opportunity that once again put the Philippines within one, 79-78.

The Filipinos were able to recover the ball after a Qatar turnover and Desiderio hit the biggest basket of the game, putting Batang Gilas ahead, 80-79, with 17 seconds on the clock.

Tongco and Paras then split on two trips to the free throw line to seal the final margin.

The scores:

Batang Gilas (82) – Yu 16, Paras 13, Tongco 13, Desiderio 13, Escoto 7, Caracut 6, Mosqueda 6, Dyke 4, Black 2, Go 2, Santillan 0, Bienes 0.

Qatar (79) – Saad 35, Abdelhaleem 15, Alyousif 13, Alshawaqfeh 8, Abed 6, Aql 2, Abouzenad 0.

Quarterscores: 19-22, 40-39, 53-64, 82-79.

--INTERAKSYON TV5