RP boys bow to tall Chinese five in U-18

SANA’A, Yemen – The Nokia RP team kept up with a tall Chinese team for most of the way but came up short in the end, suffering a 75-83 defeat in the FIBA Asia U-18 Championships Friday.

Despite the loss, the Filipinos, backed by Nokia Philippines and TAO Corporation, entered the second round where it is now grouped with Japan, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

They were to battle the host team yesterday.

Early fouls on the team’s big men took their toll on the RP juniors at the finish, blowing a tough stand against the mighty Chinese.

China made good use of its size advantage, outrebounding RP, 41-29.

“We we’re keeping up with them but then our big guys got into foul trouble. We lost but I really feel that the boys played like men,” said Nokia RP U-18 coach Eric Altamirano.

Chinese coach Fan Bin had good words for the RP juniors.

“They (Philippines) have improved a lot,” said Fan as he recalled their match in the FIBA Asia U16 Championship last year when they won the game easily, 85-66.

Zhu Xuhang led the Chinese with 20 points and eight rebounds while much-heralded Guo Ailun poured in 19 points.

Raphael Banal led the Philippines with 19 points while Kiefer Ravena and Russel Escoto added 12 and 10, respectively.

At stake in the tourney are three slots to the 2011 FIBA U-19 World Championship in Latvia next year.