RP U-18 bows to Yemen

MANILA, Philippines - The Nokia RP U-18 team took its second straight loss, this time bowing to host Yemen, 69-76, in the 21st FIBA Asia U18 Championship at the 22nd May Arena in Sana’A, Yemen Saturday.

The setback came on the heels of the National’s 75-83 defeat to China last Friday with the Filipinos hoping to hurdle Japan late Sunday in a bid to boost their quarterfinal bid.

“We came out rather flat. We made a fight out of it, but we were really flat,” said head coach Eric Altamirano.

Gelo Alolino scored 19 points while Gwyne Capacio had 16 for the Philippines, which now totes a 1-2 record in the round.

Sabri Sadakh was the leader of the hosts’ cause with a game-high 21 points.

Qualifying teams in the second round carry over only preliminary wins against fellow qualifiers from their same group. Only Philippines’ 61-60 win over Syria was carried over to the second round as Saudi Arabia (which the Philippines defeated, 86-68) dropped to the classification round while the Filipinos lost to China all in Group C in the opening round.

Now in the second round Group F, the Philippines lags behind China (3-0), Japan (3-0) and Yemen (2-1). But they are better off than Iraq (0-3) and Syria (0-3) and are still in the running for a quarterfinals seat. Top four teams in this round join top four teams in the Group E in the knock-out quarterfinals.

The tournament dangles three tickets to the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship to be played in Latvia next year.