Batang Gilas bows out with loss to China

Photo from Fiba.com

Batang Gilas’ impressive 2018 Fiba U-16 run came to a halt on Saturday after a 60-54 loss to host China in the semifinals at Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium in Foshan.

Kai Sotto, though, provided a silver lining in the loss after a 26-point, 21-rebound, six-block effort against the big and agile Chinese.

Team Philippines, because of its Final Four entry after a 72-70 win over Japan on Friday, is already assured of a slot in the Fiba World U-17 championship later this year in Argentina.

Sun Haoqin led the Chinese with 22 points.

China remained undefeated and will clash with Australia for the gold medal.

The Filipinos, who lost for the first time in their last three games and are 3-2 overall counting their group games, have been relegated to the battle for third against New Zealand also on Sunday.