Nokia 5 rips Iraq, advances to quarterfinals

MANILA, Philippines - The Nokia RP U-18 team rolled past Iraq, 68-59, last Monday to advance to the quarterfinal round against Chinese-Taipei in the FIBA-Asia U-18 Championship at the 22nd May gym in Sana’A, Yemen.

The Filipinos thus closed out the second round with a 3-2 slate to join seven other teams in the knockout quarterfinal stage of the tournament which stakes three berths in the 2011 FIBA U-19 World Championship in Latvia.

The RP 5, backed by Nokia Philippines and TAO Corporation, formalized their entry in the eight-team round with a 3-2 mark behind China’s 5-0 record. Also in the quarters are groupmates China (5-0), Yemen (3-2) and Japan (3-2).

China will go up against Lebanon, Japan takes on Korea and Yemen against Iran with the winners advancing to the semifinal round.

The RP-Chinese-Taipei game is set at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Head coach Eric Altamirano said that his team needs to play more consistently, needing to come back from two stinging losses to China and Yemen.

“I think the key at this level is to play consistently. There is no point in playing well one day and going down the next,” Altamirano said.

“Chinese-Taipei is almost the same size as our team although they have taller players. We will take advantage of our rest day today (Tuesday) as we aim to go out strong tomorrow,” said Altamirano.

In the game against Iraq, Kiefer Ravena topscored with 23 points and made four assists while Mike Tolomia added eight points.