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 For the first time in over a decade, The RP Youth team has landed safely into the winners bracket when they dealt UAE its 3rd defeat by a convincing 19 point margin. Two things were absolutely crucial today here at 20th FIBA ASIA Junior men contest for the Nokia-backed RP team to stay in contention; Firstly, The Philippines must win their game against UAE. And second, Lebanon must win over Chinese Taipei. The first condition was within the boys control. The second was beyond. “It lays in the hands of Divine Providence” said acting-team manager Joel Lopa – here representing TAO Corp. prexy Jun Sy who is currently out of the country to attend to important matters.
Lebanon did pulverize Chinese Taipei 95 to 80 in the earlier match intent on
disproving any speculation that their win against the RP boys was a “fluke of a referee’s whistle”. And the pinoys came up with their most consistent performance yet in these prelims as they attacked unrelentingly, never giving UAE a chance to taste the lead in the entirety of the game. However, after the RP-UAE tussle, Coach R. Zaloum was seen shaking Franz Pumaren’s hand in congratulations and saying something to the RP Youth mentor which later, Pumaren revealed was; “You and your team truly deserve to be in the next round”. Lebanon and Philippines are destined to have a rematch as this tournament develops in the next 6 days.
Asked to comment on his wards’ performance tonight, Coach Franz replied; “They played decently and stuck to our plans and strategies with more focus and concentration this time. When I saw Lebanon win, I instructed them (RP Youth team) to give it just the right amount of effort to get the win because they will have a big game tomorrow against another strong team… Korea.”
Stellar performances came out of Marata and Banal who combined with a flurry of 3-point bombs in the 2nd Quarter pulling us comfortably away from any threat at the close of that period 41-24. Norbert Torres dominated the boards and personally contributed a dozen points. Also of note is the emerging game of 16 year old 6”5 power forward Papot Paredes who consistently defended the paint and bravely charged into the basket at every opportunity.
The cast for the winners brackets are now complete. Group 1 is composed of China, Kazahkstan, Lebanon and Syria. Group 2 has Japan, Korea, Philippines and host Iran.
Quarter Scores:
1st Qtr. Philippines: 23 UAE: 10
2nd Qtr. Philippines: 41 UAE: 24
3rd Qtr. Philippines: 58 UAE: 32
4th Qtr. Philippines: 73 UAE: 54
Individual Scores:
Philippines
Garcia 3
Mendoza 4
Torres 12
Wright 5
Marata 16
Sangalang 7
Tolentino 2
Banal 10
Terso 6
Paredes 6
Golla 2
Total: 73
United Arab Emirates
Saeed 11
Ibrahim 2
Ahmad 5
Abdalla 23
Faqqas 8
Salah 5
Total 54
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