A vastly overhauled Chinese Youth team manhandled the Nokia-backed RP Youth 86-63 in the battle for 5^th place here at the FIBA Asia U-18 championships in Tehran, Iran. 7’2” tower Zh. Wang was still there along with 5 other familiar faces from the recent Nokia Manila Youth invitational, But the 6 other players were completely new. China remains undefeated in all its court appearances save for that “walkout” against Syria in the quarterfinals. The Philippines will now have to be content with a probable 7^th place finish depending on who will emerge as contender from the Korea-Lebanon match currently ongoing as of this writing.

Right from the start, Coach Derek Pumaren’s wards found difficulty controlling the boards as China raced to an early lead 4-0 after 3 minutes of play. It was Norbert Torres who fired RP’s first 2 points with a jumper from midrange and awakened the Philippines’ guns. The quarter ended with the RP young guns trailing 17-11.

RR Garcia shocked China in the opening seconds of the 3^rd with a 3-pointer from right-center of the arc as Torres and Mendoza combined in defense to keep the Chinese guns silent 38-35. Mendoza then powered his way through to narrow the lead down to 1 point 38-37. A 3-pointer by Matthew Wright combined with short stab by Garcia locked the score briefly at 42-42. But the Chinese offense woke to their senses and began dousing water on the Filipino fire as they pulled away to safety 57-42. Various errors in passing allowed China to maintain the lead till the end of the period 66-50.

It was downhill from then on as Errors and unnecessary fouls continued to plague the Philippine Team. Coach Derek Pumaren, filling in for younger brother Franz who had to rush to Manila, said; “We were right there frustrating China’s offense and defense, but we made a lot of mistakes that gave the Chinese team confidence. In a short tournament such as this… you cannot afford such mistakes.”

Insult was added to injury when a representative of the Iran Basketball Federation’s Security force ordered our small cheering squad of Pinoy migrants at the bleacher section to stop cheering and move further to the side midway in the game. The security personnel was informed that the group of people cheering included no less than the Philippine Ambassador’s wife. According to reports, his reply was “I don’t care who you are… Move!” The stadium was virtually empty save for some tournament officials, the teams, and these women who were at the bleachers section. The Philippine Federation filed a complaint for the security personnel’s lack of diplomacy and insulting remarks. The 4^th quarter and the team’s hopes of coming up with a 5^th place finish ended at sound of the buzzer 86-63. Tomorrow we contend for 7^th. Which is, still an honorable position in this 16-team competition… And still a better finish for our country in over 2 decades.             

Quarter Scores: 

1^st Qtr.               Philippines: 11             China: 17

2^nd Qtr.              Philippines: 32             China: 38

3^rd Qtr.              Philippines: 50             China: 66

4^th Qtr.              Philippines: 63             China: 86 

Individual Scores: 

Philippines –

Garcia 6,

Mendoza 7,

Torres        2,

Wright 16,

Marata 2,

Sangalang 6,

Tolentino 4,

Paredes 1,

Golla 4,

De Guzman 10,

Banal 2

Total:        63 

China

Sui 5,

Yu 10,

Cao 8,

Zhao 2,

Dong 2,

(12)J. Ren 5,

(13)J. Ren 27,

Li 13, 

Wang 14

Total:        86