Gilas boys fall short vs Japan

MANILA, Philippines -- A late comeback push by Gilas Pilipinas fell short against Japan, as the Nationals fell to the World No. 24 squad, 80-75, in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup classification round Saturday afternoon at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium in Ahmedabad, India. 

The Philippines thus dropped to the classification round for No. 7-8 , where it will face either Iran or Chinese Taipei. 

The Gilas boys trailed by as much as 14 points, but their comeback rally late in the fourth just went a tad short. 

Chog Moral finished with 21 points, four rebounds and four steals. George Aidan Green and Patrick Pasinos had 10 markers each. 

Kenichiro Benedict paced Japan with 20 points, three rebounds and an assist, while Cayman Tsuneoka added 15 points, nine boards and three dimes.

Japan jumped to a double digit lead early on, going up 25-11 after a deuce by Yousef Thompson. 

The Philippines, though, bounced back and kept in step with the Japanese through the next quarters. 

The Nationals trailed by four, 63-67, after a triple by JB Cagurungan with 3:12 left. 

Timely shots by Aru Takahashi, Kaito Nakamura, Aru Takahashi and Yousef Thompson, however, kept Japan at arm’s length. 

Nakamura added 13 points, six rebounds and six assists for Japan.