INQUIRER Sports

A TALL CHINESE SQUAD ended the run of a gallant Nokia-Team Pilipinas, 85-66, in the semifinals of the Fiba-Asia U16 Men?s Championship Thursday night at the Bandaraya Stadium in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

The Chinese, whose frontline boasted a pair of seven-footers, needed to scale a 10-point deficit in the first half before finally turning the tables on the Filipinos to snare a championship seat against Korea.

Kiefer Ravena and Jeron Teng keyed a flying start for Team Pilipinas, which led 17-7 in the first period, before China altered their game plan to launch a rally.

Chinese gunners 6-foot-4 Wang Zirui and 6-foot-9 Zhai Xiaochuan created matchup problems and keep the trio of Ravena, Teng and the 6-foot-3 Paolo Romero off the paint.

With Wang and Zhai firing, China finally wrested a huge advantage at the end of the third, 65-55, and continued the onslaught with a 15-2 tear that backed the smaller Filipinos to a corner.

China thus booked a ticket to the Fiba U17 World Championship next year in Hamburg, Germany along with the Koreans.

?You have to come up with a perfect game if you want to beat China,? Altamirano said.

The Filipinos will face the Iranians, who dropped a close 82-81 decision to the Koreans in the other semifinal, in the battle for third.

If there?s any consolation, Nokia Team Pilipinas earned the respect of the Fiba-Asia community. China?s winning margin over the Philippines was its smallest in the tournament.

China drubbed Saudi Arabia by 80 points, Jordan by 73 and India by 74 in the eliminations before crushing Chinese Taipei by 47, Korea by 70 and Japan by 50 in the quarterfinals.

Tagline: June Navarro

The scores:

CHINA 85?Ju 18, Zhai 15, Wang 13, Guo 11, Zhu 9, Xu 8, Luo 7, Shi 4, Bi 0, Gao 0, Ding 0, Wei 0.

PHILIPPINES 66?Teng 18, Ravena 17, Sara 13, Ferrer 6, Tolomia 4, Pessumal 4, Alolino 2, Romero 2, Pate 0, Bantayan 0, Javillonar 0.

Quarters: 15-19, 36-32, 55-47, 85-66