ALLAN THE MAN

The Philippine national youth basketball team warded off Kazakhstan to grab an 86-74 victory in the classification round of the FIBA Asia Under-18 Championships Wednesday at the Al-Gharafa Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

Paul Desiderio led the Batang Gilas charge with 19 points as the Filipinos have the chance to finish as high as fifth in the tournament after getting knocked out of the quarterfinals last Tuesday.

Thrice former champions and last edition’s silver medallists Korea answered six-time former champions Philippines speed with a speedier response and went a couple of steps ahead in their floor management to post an 87-69 win in a crucial Group B game at the 23rd FIBA Asia U18 Championship on Thursday.

The win leaves Korea with the advantage of carrying two wins into the Second Round Group E, where they will take on the top three teams of Group A including ten-time and reigning gold medallists China. Philippines too make it to the Second Round – as also Jordan – from the three-team Group B Prelim Round, but will only carry forward one win, against Jordan.

The Batang Gilas U-18 (Philippine national youth basketball team) cruised to an easy victory in their tournament opener, routing Jordan, 85-60, to launch their FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship campaign on Wednesday in Doha, Qatar.

San Beda guard Radge Tongco scored 24 points on 11-for-17 shooting while Andrei Caracut had 11 points, six assists and three steals to lead Batang Gilas to its first victory.

Batang Gilas got the luck of the draw in the FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship as it gained an outright stint in second round outright even before the event is fired off Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

The Filipinos made it to Group B alongside the sharp-shooting South Koreans and Jordanians with the three teams automatically advancing to the next round since their bracket is the only one among the four groups with three teams. The rest have four members each.

After the Philippine national U-17 basketball team's decent showing in the FIBA U-17 World Championship, another youth team is vying for a trip to the world stage: the Batang Gilas U-18 national team.

Bannered by US high school prospect Kobe Paras, the squad also mentored by Jamike Jarin shall try to grab the spotlight as well when they battle foes at the FIBA Asia U-18 Championship in Doha, Qatar starting on August 19.