THE Philippine Under-18 youth team rammed into the Great Wall of China and suffered a 66-95 defeat on Sunday in their Group B match in the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia U-18 Championships in Tehran, Iran.
The defending champions were simply too much for the Filipinos, erecting an early 29-14 lead after the first period and never looking back to book their third straight win in as many games.
The loss was second in three matches for the PHL 5, which defeated Iraq, 96-79, on Saturday to bounce back from a 74-88 loss to Chinese Taipei at the start of the tournament on Friday.
Team Captain Jolo Mendoza once again led the Filipinos with 19 points, while JV Gallego added 12 markers for Head Coach Mike Oliver, who lost a key player in the game after Jonas Tibayan had an ugly fall late in the third period.
Four Chinese players hit double figures, led by Runwang Du (17 points) and Yujia Wu (14). China outrebounded the Philippines in the game, 61-26.
The Batang Gilas fell to 1-2 and must win its next two games against Thailand on Tuesday and India on Wednesday to have a better position in the crossover quarterfinal stage.
China led 70-46 entering the fourth period when Mendoza hit a triple and Kemark Carino hit a short stab to slice the lead to 51-70 but the Chinese responded with a 20-9 assault to put the game out of reach, 90-60.
Mendoza had a big game against Iraq, exploding for 25 points highlighted by seven three-pointers. He was heavily guarded by the taller Chinese on Sunday.
Joshua Sinclair, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds against Iraq, was limited to just four markers by the taller frontline of China.
Batang Gilas survived the 39-point, 24-rebound impressive output of Ihab Al-Zuhairi of Iraq, which was walloped by defending champion China in its first game, 28-93.
Meanwhile, South Korea bounced back from a 67-80 shocking loss to Lebanon in Group B, beating Kazakhstan for its second win in three outings.
Image credits: fiba.com