Young PH ballers drop close games in Fiba Asia, Fiba 3×3 Worlds

AFTER scintillating starts, the two Philippine youth teams vying in separate international campaigns absorbed stinging losses  Friday night.

What seemed like a potential upset turned into a heartbreaking loss for the Philippine under-18 squad when all its four players fouled out against China in the Fiba 3×3 U18 World Championship in Jakarta.

The Philippines held a 13-12 lead against the taller Chinese even with only Arvin Tolentino on the floor after Thirdy Ravena, Prince Rivero and Kobe Paras fouled out one by one.

But the young Nationals’ bid to stay unbeaten came to a painful end as Tolentino also fouled out with just eight seconds left, thus automatically awarding China a 20-0 win.

In Tehran, Iran, the under-16 team also absorbed a narrow loss to Chinese Taipei, 95-90, in the Fiba Asia U16 Championship.

Tu Ssu-han fired a game-high 29 points as the Taiwanese topped Group D (2-0).

Michael Nieto posted 26 markers and 16 rebounds, while Paul Desiderio had 21 points to pace the U16 boys, who absorbed their first loss a day after a thrilling 90-88 triumph over Kazakhstan.

The Philippine U18 3×3 also got off to a strong start with three straight triumphs over Chinese Taipei (13-5), Guatemala (18-9) and Andorra (15-11) on Day 1, before falling to China then to Bulgaria by the slimmest of margins, 12-11.

The Philippines wound up tied with Czech Republic and Bulgaria at 3-2 in Pool B, behind United States (5-0) and China (4-1). Jasmine W. Payo