Philippine youth bows to Japan, fails to secure bronze in Fiba U16

Even the bronze medal eluded the Philippines.

Energen Pilipinas failed to salvage the third place with a 81-94 loss to Japan Friday in the Fiba Asia Under-16 in Nhat Trang, Vietnam.

Philippines’ youth squad, which failed to break the curse against South Korea after a  58-67 heartbreak Thursday night, could not catch a break against Japanese all game.

After trailing by as many as 20 points at the end of the third, but Energen Pilipinas managed to make a run in the payoff period and trim down Japan’s lead to eight points, 77-85.

Jan Cani and Kyles Lao scored 16 points apiece to lead the Philippines in their final match of the tournament.

Japan’s Daiki Kaneko forefronted his squad’s assault with a game-best 25 points.

The fourth place finish by Energen tied the record set by the last batch of U16 in the 2009 Fiba Asia edition led by Kiefer Ravena.

Meanwhile, China was simply unstoppable in clobbering South Korea, 92-52, to clinch the crown anew and move on to the Fiba World U17 Championship.