RP youth team routs UAE, enters quarterfinal

The Philippine Youth team, gaining inspiration from Lebanon’s rout of Taiwan, put on a solid effort and dominated United Arab Emirates, 73-54, to barge into the quarterfinal round of the 20th FIBA Asian Junior Championship in Tehran, Iran yesterday.

Samuel Marata and Gabriel Banal came away with a flurry of triples in the second quarter as the RP boys raced to a 41-24 lead and never looked back.

Norbert Torres took care of the boards while scoring 12 points while the 6-5 Papot Paredes made a good account of himself with a solid game underneath.

“When I saw Lebanon win, I instructed the boys to give it just the right amount of effort to get the victory because they will have a big game tomorrow against a strong Korea squad,” said RP team coach Franz Pumaren.

“Overall, they played decently and stuck to our plans and strategies, giving more focus and concentration this time,” said Pumaren, whose wards suffered a heart-breaking 84-87 loss to Lebanon the other day.

Earlier, the Lebanese showed their readiness for the tough grind as they demolished the Taiwanese, 95-80, to likewise advance to the tournament proper.

But the RP boys will have their hands full in the quarters as they found themselves bunched with tough Japan, Korea and Iran in Group 2.

The easy win was the second in three games for the Nokia-backed RP five as it finished its elimination round campaign by placing second behind Lebanon (3-0) in Group C.

The top two teams in the four-group under-18 tournament earn berths into the next round.

The Filipinos open their quarterfinals campaign against the Koreans.

Joining Lebanon in Group 1 are defending champion China, Kazakhstan and Syria.