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Sports

Batang Gilas eyes to sustain momentum vs Japan

Joey Villar - Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines – Batang Gilas seeks to ride the crest of its shock victory over favored China as it clashes with Japan in Thursday's quarterfinals of the FIBA-Asia Under-16 Championship at the Britama gym in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The undersized Filipinos slew the Chinese, 78-72, after battling back from five points down with two minutes to go using a swarming, suffocating defense and an 11-point binge fueled by by Kris Harvey Pagsanjan, Jason Credo, SJ Belangel and Jonas Tibayan.

The win sent Batang Gilas in a three-way tie with China and Korea after the elims in Group F with 4-1 (win-loss) records but eventually clinched the No. 2 seed and an interesting quarters duel with Japan, which finished third in  Group E with a 3-2 card.

China, which smashed Korea, 91-65, in the first round, wound up the top seed and will play Kuwait while Korea, which downed the Phl, 77-74, Monday, ended up as No. 3 seed and will tackle Lebanon.

Group E topnotcher Chinese Taipei faces Thailand in the other quarters pairing.

Interestingly, Batang Gilas landed in the bracket where it will face the winner of the Taipei-Thailand match in the semis, assuming the former beats Japan, while China and Korea could collide in the semis.

The stunning victory avenged the Phl’s 66-85 loss to China, which topped the first three of stagings of this event, in the semis in Malaysia in 2009 and a 78-85 setback in the finals in Iran two years ago.

It also ended China's 31 successive wins spread over four editions – Johor Bahru, Malaysia in 2009, Na Thrang, Vietnam in 2011 and Tehran, Iran in 2013.

vuukle comment

ASIA UNDER

BATANG GILAS

BELANGEL AND JONAS TIBAYAN

CHINA AND KOREA

CHINESE TAIPEI

GROUP E

GROUP F

JASON CREDO

JOHOR BAHRU

KRIS HARVEY PAGSANJAN

NA THRANG

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