In fresh twist, Philippines dwarfs China to top group

Batang Gilas team. Photo from fiba.basketball

There was every reason to be wary of the opponent. Going into a key Group B match in the Fiba Asia U18 championship, China had handily beaten the Philippines in three previous outings in the tournament.

The average winning margin of the Great Wall? 33.7 points, according to Fiba.

But there wasn’t going to be another rout at the hands of the Chinese. Dave Ildefonso, AJ Edu and the rest of the Batang Gilas made sure of that.

Ildefonso shot a team-high 18 points to go with seven rebounds while Edu had a monster performance of 13 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks as the Philippines ripped China, 73-63, Tuesday night in Nonthaburi Stadium in Thailand.

Ildefonso, son of PBA legend and two-time MVP Danny Ildefonso, drilled back-to-back triples in the third quarter as the Philippines took a 51-33 lead, the country’s biggest, in the third period.

Edu, meanwhile, was a rock in the low blocks for Batang Gilas, and teamed up with lanky center Kai Sotto in helping the Philippines achieve what it has rarely done against China squads: Dominate the paint. Edu and Sotto combined for nine blocks and had the Filipinos leading the battle of the boards in the first half.

Guo Haowen rallied China in the fourth, teaming up with Jiang Weize to move to trim Batang Gilas’ lead to six points a couple of times, But Edu and Sotto provided the needed stops while Dalph Panopio and Miguel Oczon helped steady right the ship with timely hits to seal the outcome.

The Philippines thus topped its group with a 3-0 card, advancing outright to the quarterfinals. China, on the other hand, needed a 102-45 victory over Indonesia in a qualifying match Wednesday to advance to forge a quarterfinal duel with Asian rival Korea. The Philippines will face the winner of the Chinese Taipei-Bahrain qualifying tussle that was going on at press time.

Edu leads the Philippines in scoring after the group phase, averaging 15.3 points per game, while Ildefonso, who also led the squad to a 75-53 rout of Lebanon in their opening game, averages 13.0 an outing. Sotto, meanwhile, averages 12.3 points per game.

Edu also leads the Filipinos in rebounds with 11.3 per game and in blocks with 3.7 per game. Sotto averages 1.7 swats per game and the duo made life difficult for China in the shaded lane.