By Jerome Lagunzad
Game Today
(Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gym)
6 p.m. – Batang Gilas vs Japan
(Quarterfinals, knockout match)
Batang Gilas vented its ire on Hong Kong as it romped to a103-61 win yesterday to arrange an exciting quarterfinal showdown with in-form Japan in the 2018 FIBA Asia Under-16 championships at the Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium in Foshan, China.
King Balaga and RC Calimag led a balanced attack with 12 points each while towering center Kai Sotto bounced back from a listless outing with 11 points, 12 rebounds and a block as the Filipinos regained some confidence following an 82-52 loss to world power Australia the other day.
The wire-to-wire victory enabled Batang Gilas to earn the right to face Japan, the Group D topfinisher which stunned defending champion Korea, 76-73, last Wednesday, in a knockout quarterfinal match tonight at 6 p.m.
Main gunners Forthsky Padrigao, Terrence Fortea and Mclaude Guadana combined for 32 points and accounted for seven of the Batang Gilas’ 11 made triples, underscoring the offensive flow which has been lacking in preliminary round.
Sotto’s fellow Blue Eaglet, big man Geo Chiu, added 11 points and eight rebounds in 12 minutes of efficient play off the bench.
The Filipinos, playing with a collective sense of urgency, buckled down to work early on as they unloaded a decisive 18-4 start and never took their foot off the pedal as their Hong Kong counterparts hardly found any answer.
Batang Gilas made 40 of its 97 attempts from the field, good for 41.2 percent, anchored by 18 assists, six of them coming from Padrigao. The Filipinos, after paying a heavy price for 26 errors against the Aussies, protected the leather better this time with just eight turnovers and even came up with 10 steals.
Tsz Kit Lung led all scorers with 18 points while Man Tsun Cheung added 12 points that all went for naught as Hong Kong came up empty-handed for the third straight match and bowed out of the tournament.
