France eliminates Batang Gilas

MANILA, Philippines - France knocked Batang Gilas out of contention with a big second half breakaway leading to an 86-57 rout Tuesday night in the FIBA U17 World Championship in Dubai. 

Batang Gilas managed to stay close in the first half and even led by two, 11-9, midway through the first quarter. But France came alive in the second half using a big third quarter run to pull away for good and advanced to the quarterfinals. 

France, which enjoyed a five-inch height advantage, outrebounded Phl 60-33 which led to the 29-point win despite having more turnovers (19-11). 

France opened the third quarter with a 12-2 run capped by a three-pointer by Lucas Hergott. That big spurt at the start transformed a mere six-point lead, 41-35, to a commanding 16-point advantage, 53-37.  They were never seriously threatened the rest of the way. 

France's twin towers Amine Noua and Stephane Gombauld threw their weight around to finish monster numbers. Noua, France's 6-7 starting center, wound up with 21 points and 12 rebounds while 6-8 forward Stephane Gombauld added 14 and 20. 

Batang Gilas dropped their fourth straight loss.  Their top gun Jolo Mendoza was limited to just two points after exploding for seven in the opening quarter where they only trailed by three, 20-17. Batang Gilas' 6-2 power forward Mike Nieto held his own against the bigs of France with his second double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds) that went with four assists and four steals. His twin brother Matt Nieto also had 12 while Michael dela Cruz pumped in eight including back-to-back triple to end the first half. 

Batang Gilas were relegated to the classification phase (9th to 16th) and will face Argentina on Thursday. 

The scores:

France 86– Noua 21, Gombauld 14, Loubaki 13, Denis 9, Ponsar 7, Hergott 6, Leboeuf 5, Hufschmidt 5, Jeanne 4, Cortale 2, Labanere 0, Bengaber 0.

Batang Gilas 57– Mi. Nieto 12, Ma. Nieto 12, Mendoza 9, Dela Cruz 8, Go 6, Desiderio 6, Escoto 2, Dario 2, Abadeza 0, Panlilio 0, Navarro 0, Padilla 0.

Quarterscores: 20-17, 41-35, 61-47, 86-57