Batang Gilas dream run ends in nightmare against Japan

MANILA, Philippines -- The Batang Gilas' dream run in the 2015 FIBA Asia U16 Championship ended on Thursday as they got ambushed by Japan, 73-66, in the quarterfinal round at the Britama Arena in Jakarta, Indonesia. 

A banged-up Batang Gilas failed to make a fitting a follow-up to their stirring 78-72 upset of the erstwhile unbeaten China at the end of the eliminations. 

Japan went off strong right from the opening tip racing to a 15-0 lead and the Batang Gilas never recovered from that flat start.

Yudai Nishida led Japan with 20 points and eight rebounds while skipper Taiga Kagitomi and Seiya Takahara added 16 and 12 points, respectively. 

The Batang Gilas entered the quarterfinal round with momentum on their side after registering the biggest upset in the tournament on Tuesday.  But Japan, which lost two straight games to Lebanon (70-84) and Chinese Taipei (75-83) entering the quarterfinal round, was the better team in this game as they held the Batang Gilas to just 36.5 percent shooting. 

Not even a big fourth quarter run by the Batang Gilas could save them this time as Japan held on to its most important victory to date. The win earned the Japanese a semifinal date against the unbeaten Chinese Taipei, which massacred Thailand, 88-39, earlier. 

Team captain SJ Belangel led the Batang Gilas in a daring 14-2 run to come within seven, 73-66, but it proved to be their last stand.  Belangel and Gian Mamuyac missed their shots while Jonas Tibayan muffed his two free throws with 34 seconds left that could have cut the deficit into just five. 

Belangel finished with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists while Jason Lorenzo Credo was the only other Batang Gilas in double figure with 11 points. Mamuyac, the team's leading scorer, was slowed down by a sprained ankle and scored only two points on a horrible 1-of-12 shooting from the floor. 

Harvey Pagsanjan (sprained ankle) and Tibayan (sprained knee) also put a courageous stand despite nursing injuries finishing with nine and eight points, respectively. 

The Batang Gilas will try to salvage some measure of pride when they battle Thailand in the consolation round.