Failing to sustain its late run, the Philippines bowed to South Korea, 87-69, to finish second in Group B of the preliminary round of the Fiba Asia Under-18 Championship Thursday at Al-Gharafa Stadium in Doha, Qatar.
Radge Tongco fueled the Filipinos’ second-half surge that trimmed the deficit to seven, 54-61, but the Koreans closed out the game with a 26-15 burst on the way to an easy victory that gave them the top spot in the group at 2-0.
Despite the loss, the young Nationals tagged as Batang Gilas will join the Koreans in the second round toting a 1-1 slate.
Tongco, who topscored with 24 in the Philippines’ 85-60 drubbing of Jordan Wednesday, led the team anew with 24 points, 15 coming from beyond the three-point arc.
Mark Dyke added a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds for Batang Gilas, who will battle the Group A qualifiers in the next round.
Kobe Paras, who won last year’s Fiba World U18 slam dunk crown, struggled on 3-of-14 shooting to finish with only six points.
Kim Kyung-won powered the more cohesive Koreans with 17 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks, while Song Kyo-chang and Kwong Hyeok-joon added 17 each. Jasmine W. Payo