Fiba Asia U18: Batang Gilas trounces Kazakhstan

MANILA, Philippines—After bowing out of medal contention, the Philippine Youth team stayed on track to finish in fifth place following an 86-74 win over Kazakhstan in the Fiba Asia U-18 Championship late Wednesday night in Doha, Qatar.

Batang Gilas, less than a day removed from its painful loss to Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinal round, quickly put it behind with University of the Philippines’ Paul Desiderio leading the way.

Desiderio shot 19 points while four other Filipinos also wound up in double-digit scoring with Radge Tongco adding 13 and Mark Dyke, Jolo Go and Kobe Paras tallying 10 each.

The Philippines, which came out firing and led by as much as 16, 54-38, at the half, takes on Japan Thursday for fifth place.