MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines bounced back from its heartbreaking loss to Chinese Taipei the night before as it walloped Jordan, 73-60, Saturday to boost its quarterfinal bid in the third FIBA-Asia Under-16 Championship in Tehran, Iran.
Jolo Go of Hope Christian School exploded with a game-high 22 points including four booming triples while Ateneo's Jolo Mendoza scattered 14 points he spiked with a game-best seven steals, most of which coming in the second quarter when the Jamike Jarin-caoched Nationals broke loose.
Michael Joseph Nieto had another sterling effort as he came through with 12 points and a tournament-high 20 boards as the Filipinos erased the stigma of a painful 90-95 defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei the night before.
The win thus sent the Filipino, whose first win came at the expense of Kazakhstan, 90-88, Friday, at solo third, just a game behind fellow Group F countries Japan and Chinese Taipei, which are unbeaten in two games at press time.
The Phl will play Japan on Sunday and India (0-2) on Monday.
The Filipinos in Iran also soothed the pain suffered by their countrymen competing in the 2013 FIBA 3x3 U-18 World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia where they suffered a pair of defeats after winning their first three games Friday.
Just a day after sweeping Chinese Taipei, Guatemala and Andorra, the squad of Thirdy Ravena, Arvin Tolentino, Prince Rivero and Kobe Paras ran into a taller, bigger China and absorbed an embarrassing 0-20 beating.
The Filipinos then fell to the Bulgarians hours later in a gripping 11-12 defeat that sent it into a three-way logjam at third place with their conquerors and Czech Republic on identical 3-2 (win-loss) records.
The Phl, coached by John Flores, hopes to make it to the next round with just a win either against defending champion USA, the tournament favorite with an unblemished 5-0 card, or Czech Republic in today's final day of the group stages to advance to the playoff stage.