MANILA, Philippines – Batang Gilas went on a turnover spree as it succumbed to South Korea, 87-69, to finish second in Group B after the first round of the FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship at the Al-Gharafa Gym in Doha, Qatar Thursday.
The Filipinos, whose trip here is bankrolled by MVP Sports Foundation and Smart, fell into a maze of errors as they turned the ball 23 times that allowed the Koreans 23 points off turnovers including 14 on fast breaks.
Ranbill Tongco of San Beda and Mark Anthony Dyke of National U were the only two bright spots for the Nationals with the former coming through with his second 24-point effort and the latter ending up with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
But Batang Gilas, which toppled a taller Jordan, 85-60, the day before, just didn't have an answer to the troika of Kim Kyungwom, Song Kyochang and Kwon Hyeok Joon, who spearheaded the Koreans by firing 17 points apiece.
The bull-strong Kim was biggest thorn of all by adding game-highs 15 rebounds and seven blocks while Song and Kwon combined for 11 boards, nine assists and six steals aside from their scoring.
In the end, it was the turnovers that killed the Filipinos' hopes of repeating over the Koreans, whom the former beat in last year's FIBA-Asia U-16 Championship in Iran that booked them a slot in the FIBA U17 Championship in Dubai where they finished 15th of 16 teams.
Despite the loss, Batang Gilas, along with South Korea and Jordan, still qualified to the second round where they will face the three qualifiers in Group A – China, Qatar and India – starting Friday.
The Filipinos are gunning for one of the three spots in the 2015 FIBA U-19 World Championship in Greece.