MANILA, Philippines—The Nokia-RP Youth team declared itself ready for the tough battle ahead after downing China, 84-80, Sunday to clinch third place in the four-nation Manila Youth Basketball Invitational Championship at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

While acknowledging that it will be a tall order for his under-18 team to perform well in the FIBA-Asia Junior Men’s Championship set in Tehran, Iran next week, RP coach Franz Pumaren said the mini-tournament was good training for his boys.

“This tournament generally helped us prepare for the FIBA-Asia championships in terms of building the team’s confidence and exposing the players to different opponents outside Southeast Asia,” Pumaren said.

The RP Youth team booked a ticket to the Asian championship scheduled Aug. 25-Sept.5 after topping the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Led by skipper Frank Golia Jr., 6-foot-4 center Norberto Torres, UAAP juniors MVP Samuel Joseph Marata, playmaker Ryan Roose Garcia and wingman Gabriel Banal, the Nationals are bracketed in Group C with Chinese-Taipei, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates.

Pumaren said the Taiwanese would most likely field the same team that his wards subdued, 84-66, Friday night.

“They were trying to hide something from us. They hardly ran any plays at all,” said Pumaren. “At least, we already get to mark their top players.”

A day after the Filipinos dumped the Taiwanese, Chinese-Taipei revealed its top weapon—potent three-point shooting—when it turned back Lithuania in overtime. Chinese-Taipei and Lithuania were still playing in a one-game championship battle at presstime.

Pumaren acknowledged the need to watch out for Taiwanese shooters Lee Ming-hui, Lin Li-jen and Lin Wei-han aside from keeping an eye on the trigger-happy Chang Po-wei and Chou Po-chen.

Pumaren said his coaching staff has yet to scout Lebanon and the UAE.

“I haven’t seen them (Lebanon and UAE) yet. We’re lacking in height but we will offset it with heart and hard work,” said Pumaren, a veteran of many national teams as a player during his prime.

Besides Torres, Pumaren could only choose from among Philip Paredes (6-4), Ian Paul Sangalang (6-5) and Golla (6-3) to man the slot.

His other players are Filipino-Canadian Matthew Wright, Jaypee Mendoza, Mark Joel De Guzman and point guard Joseph Tolentino.

In the FIBA-Asia championships, the top two teams from four groups advance to the quarterfinals. After another round, the best four squads are paired in the crossover semifinals with the winners disputing the championship.

In the championship game, Mantas Kadzevicius erupted for 35 points as Lithuania turned back Chinese-Taipei, 87-73, to rule the four-nation tournament.

The scores:

PHILIPPINES 84—Garcia 20, Wright 18, Mendoza 14, Torres 12, Golia 11, De Guzman 3, Banal 3, Terso 2, Paredes 1, Sangalang 0, Marata 0.
CHINA 80—Ren Junfei 19, He 16, Wang 15, Zhao 14, Cao 7, Ren Junwei 5, Wang Yingliang 4.
Quarters: 23-20, 40-37, 51-60, 84-80

LITHUANIA 87—Kadzevicius 35, Peciukevicius 18, Staniulis 17, Sapiega 12, Milinskas 3, Slezas 2, Gaska 0, Zimnickas 0, Kairys 0.
CHINESE-TAIPEI 73—Lee 20, Chou 16, Chung 12, Chang 11, Lin Li-Jen 6, Shih 5, Lin Wei Han 3, LI 0, Lin Yung-Hao 0.
Quarters: 13-23, 38-39, 73-53, 87-73