Batang Gilas loses to France in Fiba U17

MANILA, Philippines–Still struggling from the outside, Batang Gilas Pilipinas fell at the hands of France, 57-86, in the Round of 16 of the Fiba U17 World Championship in Dubai.

The young Nationals fired blanks from the three-point area going just two-of-14 from the field (14 percent) while the taller French shot 44 percent from that distance.

The Philippines only trailed by six, 35-41, at the half before France asserted its size to distance itself further in the third quarter where the French limited the Filipinos to just 12 points.

France’s outside shots started to fall as well in the second half that spelled trouble for the Philippines.

The poor outside shooting left Batang Gilas with no choice but to rely heavily on its quickness as Paul Desiderio, Jollo Mendoza and Matt Nieto forced things inside and challenged France’s defense.

But France, with its guards nearly as tall or even seemingly taller than PH’s frontcourt players, was just too big in the end.

With the loss, Batang Gilas, which lost to Angola, Greece and USA in the preliminary round, was relegated to the consolation phase and will face either Spain or Agentina next for a chance to place as high as ninth and as low as 16th.

Mike and Matt Nieto paced the Philippines, which got out-rebounded, 33-60, with 12 points apiece. Mike actually led Batang Gilas in every statistical category with 10 rebounds, four assists, four steals and one block.

Mendoza, who topscored for PH in the first three games, scored nine points.