FIBA Asia U16: Philippines defeated Iraq to Gain Semifinals Seat

         The Energen Pilipinas Under-16 national team is through to the semifinals of the FIBA Asia Under-16 Championships in Nha Trang City, Vietnam.

          For the second game running, it just needed one bright spark for Philippines to maintain their unbeaten status via win over Iraq. Rodolfo Alejandro was the forefront of the Filipino offense yet again, as the leader of an otherwise all-round attack eight out of coach Olsen Racela’s 10-man rotation scored to put Philippines massively ahead at the end of the first quarter.The Philippines opened up a big early lead before surviving an Iraq comeback to win, 82-69, and advance to the semis to face Korea. Tomas Ramos scored 15 points while Jay Javelosa and Henry Asilum came up big in the fourth quarter to help the Energen squad escape with the victory.

         The Filipino boys ended the first quarter up 30-9, but a strong Iraq comeback in the second half cut the lead down to 64-60 in the fourth. But the Philippines scored nine straight points to open up a 13 point lead that they would hang onto until the final buzzer. Javelosa scored 12 points, Asilum and Kyles Lao had 10 apiece while Hubert Cani added 9 in the win.

        With the win, the U-16 team is assured of at least matching the 4th place finish of the Kiefer Ravena-led Nokia Pilipinas Under-16 team two years ago in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

The scores:

PHILIPPINES (82) – Ramos 15, Javelosa 12, Asilum 10, Lao 10, Cani 9, Alejandro 8, Diputado 8, Heading 6, Caracut 2, Rivero 2, Go 0

IRAQ (69) – Razzaq 20, Hamzaah 19, Sabri 12, Ismael 8, Mahdi 4, Abdulqaer 2, Abdullah 2, Ali 2, Saeed 0, Ahmed 0, Mohammed 0, Abdullhussein 0

Quarterfinals Result: (October 26)

QF1 - Japan 71-52 Lebanon

QF2 - China 100-19 Saudi

QF3 - S.Korea 107-48 Indonesia

QF4 - Philippines 82-69 Iraq

Semifinals Schedule: (October 27)

Semis#1: Japan vs. China (6:00pm)

Semsi#2: Philippines vs. South Korea (8:00pm)