Congratulations Team Philippines!
TEHRAN, Iran (3rd FIBA Asia U16 Championship):
Philippines weaved together an entertaining wave of offense, an enthralling web of defense and most importantly an enthusiastic fightback to break their semifinal jinx beating Chinese Taipei 77-72 in the Final Four clash of the 3rd FIBA Asia U16 Championship on Thursday that gives them an entry into the 2014 FIBA World U17 Championship to be played in Dubai (UAE) from June 26-July 6 next year.Philippines, who lost to China and Korea in the semifinals of the first two editions of the FIBA Asia U16 Championship – and to Iran and Japan respectively in the bronze medal play offs – will line up against twice defending gold medalists China in the final on the morrow. Taipei, who were playing their semifinal game, take on Japan for the bronze medal.
The well worked and hard fought win along with giving Philippines their first medal in this competition, also avenged the 90-95 defeat they suffered at the hands of Taipei in a Group D Prelim Round game here – incidentally the only game Michael Ray Jarin’s team has dropped so far in the competition.
It was Philippines who held control of the chariot for a better part of the game. Jose Mendoza was scintillating with his field shooting leading the charge for the SEABA champions helping them build what at that stage looked a comfortable position, till Taipei bounced back.
Having trailed Philippines right through – and as many as eight points only moments earlier –Taipei made their move in the latter part of the penultimate quarter.
A searing 12-2 run – including a 9-0 blitzkrieg that closed the quarter giving Taipei a five-point lead – brought HsiehyYu-Chuan’s boys’ temperament to the fore.
Philippines, who seem to have gone into a somnambulistic mode for that period of five minutes woke up just in time with their fluency back on track. What followed was another classic in the history of FIBA Asia U16 Championship, but fortunately this time around Philippines finished on the winning side.
“I told the boys to keep their heads down and focus on the game,†Jarin said about the time when Taipei back into the game.
Mendoza, who only had six in the third period to add to his 14 in the first half, led the Filipino resurgence too and finished with 28 points. Michael Nieto, the cherubic Filipino captain picked up 17 points and 14 rebounds, 8 of those points and 4 of those boards coming in the final period.
Tu Ssu-Hen and Hsu Cheng-Shun shared the scoring honors for Taipei with 14 points apiece – each scoring half of them in the third period.
FIBA Asia
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