MANILA, Philippines -- The curse of South Korea has been broken. This time, in boys’ play.
The Philippine U-16 team has beaten South Korea, 95-71, to advance to the quarterfinals of the FIBA U-16 basketball competition in Doha, Qatar.
This is the first time the Philippines defeated South Korea in four games.
The Filipinos started hot, jumping to a double-digit lead as early as the first quarter.
They then turned it up by multiple notches, opening the second quarter with a 17-0 run.
The wire-to-wire victory saw the Philippines leading by as much as 34 points, 54-20, in the second canto.
Joaquin Ludovice had a hot 3-point shooting day as he sank 7-of-12 from beyond the arc en route to 25 points.
Ludovice scored 19 points in the first half alone as the Philippines rode his hot hand to victory.
Kurt Velasquez had 17 points of his own.
The Filipinos hauled down a massive 57 boards. They also dished out 26 assists.
The Koreans, however, were limited to 35 rebounds and 14 assists.
The 26th-ranked Philippines will be facing World No. 31 Japan in the quarterfinals.