IT’S TURNING out to be a big year for Philippine basketball.
The country’s Under-16 team rallied from eight points down in the final five minutes shock group-stage tormentor Chinese Taipei, 77-72, in the Fiba Asia U16 Championship Thursday night in Tehran, Iran, to advance to the title round while securing a slot in the World Championship.
Jolo Mendoza and Mike Nieto fueled the Philippines’ furious 14-2 windup, where the young Filipinos rose from a 62-70 deficit in the last 5:45 minutes of the knockout semifinal match at Azadi Sports Complex.
The victory assured the Philippines at least a silver medal and a slot in the 2014 Fiba U17 World Championship in August in Dubai.
This was the third time a Philippine squad qualified for a Fiba world championship.
Last May, the U18 team of Thirdy Ravena, Kobe Paras, Arvin Tolentino and Prince Rivero also emerged as the surprise champions in the Fiba Asia 3×3 to advance to the Worlds in Jakarta.
The quartet had an early exit in the group stage just last week, but the Philippines got a glowing consolation when Paras bagged the slam dunk crown in the side event.
In August, the senior men’s team, Gilas Pilipinas, finished with a silver medal in the 27th Fiba Asia championship, booking a slot to the 2014 Fiba World Cup, the biggest basketball stage.
Like the Gilas squad, the youth team will have a shot at the gold medal. It was playing China at press time for the championship. China advanced after routing Japan, 99-78, in the other semifinal duel.
Mendoza knocked in 12 of his 28 points from three-point range, the last a clutch triple that gave the Philippines the lead, 74-72, in the last 81 seconds.
Nieto posted a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds, while his twin Matthew shot 11 and dished out six assists. Jasmine W. Payo
The scores:
PHILIPPINES 77—Mendoza 28, Mi. Nieto 17, Ma. Nieto 11, Desiderio 8, Navarro 6, Escoto 4, Dela Cruz 3, Padilla 0, Go 0, Abadeza 0, Dario 0.
CHINESE TAIPEI 72—Hsu 14, Tu 14, Wu 13, Chang 9, Chen 8, Huang 8, Chan 4, Sun 2, Lan 0.
Quarters: 23-17, 42-37, 59-54, 77-72