The Philippine Under-18 Team booked a return trip to the Fiba Asia U18 tournament after completing another sweep of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) U18 championship this week in Sabah, Malaysia.
Led by high school stars from the UAAP and NCAA, the young Nationals posted a whopping average winning margin of 47 points in the tournament the country has ruled for the fourth straight time.
The victory assured the Philippines, as well as runner-up Malaysia, of slots in the Fiba Asia U18 set in Doha, Qatar, from Aug. 19 to 28.
On Wednesday night, Paul Desiderio and Joshua Andrei Caracut teamed up for 33 points as the Philippines capped its dominant title romp with a 124-63 ripping of Singapore.
Earlier, Ranbill Tongco fired 12 points to pace the Philippines’ 93-76 drubbing of Malaysia, while Jollo Go shot 18 points in the Nationals’ rout of Indonesia, 98-35, in the opener.
Mentored by Jamike Jarin, the squad also included Thirdy Ravena, Aaron Black, Mark Dyke, Leonard Santillan, Dave Yu, Richard Escoto, Dawn Ochea and Henry Asilum. Jasmine W. Payo