Phl youth cagers ward off gutsy Malaysians, near sweep

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines blew hot and cold as it turned back a gutsy Malaysia side, 93-76, to virtually clinch the 9th Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship title in Tawau, Malaysia Tuesday night.

Trailing by two points after the opening quarter, the Filipinos went on attack mode and outscored the Malaysians, 27-10, in the second period to go into the halftime break with a 45-30 lead.

Malaysia, however, fought back and whipped up a third quarter storm to close the gap, 68-60, before the Phl hung tough enough in the final canto to seal the latter its second win and a berth in the 23rd FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship slated Aug. 19-28 in Doha, Qatar.

Ranbill Tongco, back on his second tour of duty with the Nationals, led his team with 12 points while Jose Go, Thirdy Ravena and Andres Paul Desiderio scattered 11, 10 and 10 points, respectively.

The Phl tries to close out with a sweep as it clashes with winless Singapore in the final day of this four-day tournament.

"This is the first step to a bigger battle, which is the FIBA-Asia Championship in Doha," Phl team coach Jamike Jarin, who steered the country to an unprecedented silver medal effort in the FIBA-Asia U16 event in Iran last year to gain a spot in the FIBA Worlds in Dubai also this August, told The STAR.

Malaysia and Indonesia, which edged Singapore, 66-62, will fight it out for the second last spot in Doha.