Batang Gilas Pilipinas have finally concluded a dismal FIBA Asia U18 Championship 2016 campaign after salvaging seventh place.
The young Filipinos managed that finish after scraping by India, 67-64, Sunday afternoon in Tehran, Iran in the tourney’s classification rounds.
The Philippines were enjoying a 64-54 lead midway into the final frame until India came back, 65-64, with 1:36 left. Fran Yu’s charities saved Batang Gilas and helped seal the three-point win.
Jolo Mendoza, Batang Gilas’ leading scorer with averages of 18.6 points per game, led the Philippines with 15 markers. Yu chipped in 14, while John Bahio had 10.
Their seventh-place finish was two steps down from their accomplishment in the biennial event’s 2014 edition in Doha, Qatar, which saw them place fifth after beating Japan, 113-105.
Batang Gilas had good chances to go deep into the tournament, until a very untimely late-game meltdown took place in the quarterfinal stage against Korea, 93-85, which sent them down to the classification rounds.
The Philippines had an opportunity to emulate what they had done in Qatar two years ago, but stuttered as they faced China — the same team that had whipped them by 29 in the group stage — and lost, 85-55.
The loss to the Chinese sent the Batang Gilas to the last classification round, where they were pitted against India, over whom they eventually triumphed.
The Philippines’ finish this year has extended the country’s decades-long drought for a gold medal in the Asian Under-18 meet, which it last won back in 1982 in Manila.
The Philippines has yet to add gold medal number 7 to their FIBA Asia U18 medal tally.
