INQUIRER Sports

SINGAPORE—Giving China a jolt was quite impressive but the Philippines just could not display the same ferocity in its final game.

The Filipino dribblers lost steam against Korea and missed the bronze medal yesterday after nearly toppling powerhouse China in the semifinals of the Fiba 3-on-3 basketball of the 1st Asian Youth Games.

Expecting a third-place finish at the least, the Nationals collapsed in the closing minutes, allowing the Koreans to run away with a gut-wrenching 33-29 victory marred by a near fistfight at the Anglican High School gym here.

“The boys lost their focus after losing to China,” said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Noli Eala.

Li Weijie attacked the lane for the winning basket with four minutes and 20 seconds to go in the third period as China prevailed, 34-31, over the Philippines in the semifinals.

China went on to win the gold after defeating Iran in the finals.

Based on the rules, the team that scores 33 points automatically wins the match, which has three five-minute periods.

Lee Jong-hyun and Lee Dong-yeop combined to score 11 straight points as the Koreans forged ahead, 29-21, with less than two minutes remaining in the second period.

Mario Emmanuel Bonleon broke the RP scoring drought with a three and Jeron Teng drove to make it 26-31 with a minute left.

Bonleon buried another triple but Lee Dong-yeop sealed the bronze medal for Korea after sinking his first free throw with two seconds left in the second period.

Poor free throw shooting

Eala rued the poor free throw shooting of the Nationals, who muffed five charities against Korea and six against China.

Chang Jin Choi was assessed a technical foul in the first period after he tried to get back at Cris Michael Tolomia, who hit him hard in the stomach but was not seen by referees.

“Tolomia was obviously not in his game today. He did things which were not in the game plan,” said Eala.

On the distaff side, Korea also booted out the girls’ team coached by former UP Maroon Patrick Aquino following a convincing 32-21 win in the quarterfinals.

In swimming, Dorothy Grace Hong finished last during the finals of the 100-meter backstroke while Jessie Khing Lacuna made it into the semifinals of the boys’ 100m butterfly.

Hong, 17, clocked one minute and 4.07 seconds in the event won by Kazakhstan’s Yekaterina Rudenko (1:02.52). Claudia Lau of Hong Kong claimed the silver (1:03.82) and Uzbekistan’s Yulduz Kuchkarova copped the bronze (1:04.07).

Lacuna, 16, qualified in the semis scheduled last night in 58.15 seconds.