Greece too tall, mighty for Phl in FIBA U-17

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines took another setback, this time a stinging 65-85 loss to European cage power Greece in the Fiba U17 World Championship at the Al Shabab Arena in Dubai Saturday night.

The tall, talented Greeks held the Filipinos to just a single field goal in the third quarter and cruised in the last 10 minutes to notch their first victory in two games while dealing the Batang Gilas players their second straight defeat following their 62-72 loss to Angola Friday.

Wingman Antonis Pefanis nailed four of Greece’s 13 three-pointers to finish with 26 points as they bounced back from an opening-day setback against defending champion United States.

Cheered on by the pro-Filipino crowd, Batang Gilas started out strong, taking a 9-2 lead behind Jolo Mendoza and Mike Nieto before the Greeks began hitting their strides and imposing their strength inside.

The Batang Gilas missed all their field goal attempts in the third, allowing the Greeks to pull away, 63-33, entering the final period.

Despite the loss, Batang Gilas coach Jamike Jarin was all praises for his wards.

“I like the way we fought tonight. That’s the team I’ve known,” said Jarin. “I think this team is better than the team you saw the other night.”

Mendoza fired nine of his 19 points in the first quarter while Nieto added 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Filipinos, who failed to neutralize the height and outside shooting of the Greeks.

“They came in a lot stronger (in the third). They flexed their muscles and used their height,” said Jarin.

The Filipinos were able to contain the 7-foot-1 Giorgios Papagiannis, tipped as a future star in Europe, from asserting himself in the paint but found Thanasis Ntouzidis, Antonis Koniaris and Pefanis too tough to handle.