Batang Gilas cruises past Jordan for strong start in U-18 tiff

MANILA, Philippines – Batang Gilas outgunned and outran a taller Jordan side to hammer out an 85-60 victory that jumpstarted its bid in the FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship at the Al-Gharafa Gym in Doha, Qatar Wednesday.

Ranbill Tongco, a rookie out of San Beda's senior basketball team, torched the Jordanians with a game-high 24 points on an impressive 11-of-17 shooting clip that more than made up for seven turnovers.

Joshua Andrei Caracut, a veteran member of the national youth team, did the rest with 11 points, the bulk coming in the third quarter when the Nationals broke loose, six assists, three boards and the same number of steals.

Andres Paul Desiderio of State U and Manuel Isidro Mosqueda III of National U chipped in 10 points apiece to provide some help for the undersized but big-hearted, Jamike Jarin-mentored Batang Gilas squad.

Batang Gilas, whose trip here is bankrolled by MVP Sports Foundation and Smart, will next take on a sharp-shooting South Korea at 2 p.m. Thursday (Phl time) in a marquee showdown that will determine which country will end up topping Group B.

The South Koreans bared their true fangs early by destroying the Jordanians, 95-38.

The Batang Gilas hopes to repeat over a South Korea team the former defeated in last year's FIBA-Asia U-16 Championship in Iran that led to a silver medal finish and a breakthrough qualification in last week's FIBA World Championship in Dubai where it eventually finished 15th out of 16 teams.

Regardless of the results, all three – Batang Gilas, Jordan and South Korea – have made it to the second round by virtue of being the only bracket with three countries in it while the other three has four nations each.

The Filipinos are gunning for one of the three spots in the 2015 FIBA U-19 World Championship in Greece.