Pinoys bow to taller Angolans in Fiba U-17

DUBAI – The Philippines displayed a gallant stand before falling prey to a taller, longer Angolan squad, 82-72, in the opener of the Fiba U-17 World Championship at the Al Ahli Arena here.

With the Angolans asserting their dominance in the shaded lanes, the Batang Gilas had a jittery start, easily allowing the 11-time African champions to batter them on both ends and spoil their debut in the world stage of youth basketball.

Star gunner Jolo Mendoza, the Most Valuable Player in the Southeast Asian region, started out slow while Matt and Mike Nieto were completely outplayed by the bigger Angolans, who paraded at least three 6-foot-9 rim protectors and a versatile power forward in 6-foot-6 Joao Jungo.

Jundo delivered 28 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while converting 12 of his 17 attempts in the shaded lanes to underscore the Africans strenght inside.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the story of the game,” said Batang Gilas headcoach Jamike Jarin, putting emphasis on the vast difference in the rebounding department dominated by the Angolans, 70-64.

“In this game, we got outrebounded. We have lost so many rebounds which they converted into points. Angola used its height advantage to the fullest. I’m just glad that we still managed to keep the game close despite our disadvantage.”

Aside from rebounding, Batang Gilas’ rusty shooting also doomed their chances.

“Because of their length, we were not able to make our shots,” Jarin said. “But I’m not making an excuse. We also missed some open shots. We need to convert 12 to 15 three pointers to be competitive. But today, we only made five and that hurt our chances.”

Mendoza finished with a team-high 16 points on a miserable 7 for 26 shooting from the field while Jollo Go and Diego Dario chipped in 13 and 12 markers, respectively for the Batang Gilas, who vowed to come up with a better shooting in their battle against Greece late Saturday.