The Energen Pilipinas Under 18 squad recovered from a sluggish start to overpower winless Bahrain 99-72 in the FIBA Asia Under 18 Championships in Ulan Bator, Mongolia and set-up a quarter final clash possibly with tough South Korea who were runners-up in the last championships.
A shocking overtime win by Chinese-Taipei over previously undefeated favorites Iran 78-77 in a game that FIBA Asia described as a ?battle of talent, tactics and temperament? pushed the Philippines into the No.3 spot in their group although tied with Iran and Chinese-Taipei with identical 4-1 slates.
If the youngsters can draw encouragement from the Smart Gilas national team which overcame a long run of heartbreaking losses to the Koreans with a classic come-from-behind 92-89 victory in the Jones Cup in Taipei on Tuesday, then the chance of entering the semi finals appear good.
Bahrain stunned the somewhat lethargic Filipinos at the start of the game to lead 22-13 as the Filipinos committed 12 turnovers against only 2 by Bahrain.
But co-captain J-Jay Alejandro who finished with 23 big points sparked a roaring comeback ably assisted by Jerie Pingoy who contributed 19 on an amazing 9-for-12 shooting clip and Rey Nambatac and Hubert Cani with 11 points each.
Bahrain surprisingly led at halftime 46-35 but a sizzling third quarter marked by excellent shooting and a crippling defense helped the Energen Pilipinas boys grab a twelve point lead 73-61 going into the final quarter behind a huge 38-15 third quarter run fueled by Alejandro who buried three triples before they closed out the game with another comfortable 26-11 final quarter to win by a big 27 point margin, 99-72.
The SEABA Under 18 champions played what FIBA Asia said was ?some real smart basketball to skirt around the foul-trouble problem imn the dying minutes of the game to post an 88-83 win after a battle of swinging fortunes against the last edition?s bronze medalists, Chinese-Taipei.
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