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RP-U21 use key runs to thwart Indonesian challenge

The Pilipinas Under-21 National Team notched their first win in the Round Robin stage of the Asian U21 Championships for Season 58 as they took down Indonesia, 102-87.

It was the interior advantage of the Indonesians that took on the speed and shooting of the Filipinos in the opening assignment of both squads for the new campaign.

Indonesia would take the upper hand early, as their bigs Husaini Bowoleksono and Zainudin Silaban were able to establish themselves underneath and created chances off of the touches they received down low en route to a 24-19 tally in their favor at the end of the first.

But the Filipinos would mount a furious second quarter surge that saw them score 36 points, built on the 16-point output by JC Guardamano in the period, which would enable the RP Youth squad to notch a seven-point edge at the interval, 55-48.

The 3rd period saw Indonesia fight back in the early minutes to come to within three points of the Philippines, 57-54. But the Philippines' outside shooting would not only keep the Indonesians at bay, but would also enable them to build a huge lead on the back of a 12-0 run over the last four and a half minutes of the penultimate quarter to take a 79-63 advantage entering the final period.

The final quarter proved to be too close for comfort as Indonesia again clawed their way to come to within six of the Filipinos, 89-83. But the Filipinos would connect with another gut-wrenching 13-4 run over the same four and a half minute span of the ball game to pull away for good.

Guardamano would topscore for the Philippines with 31 points on 57% shooting, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. He is backstopped by Atoy Padrera who scored 17 points and Irvin Portugal with 13. Chester Fabella and Raphael Novilla would notch 12 and 10 points, respectively to round-up the double-digit scorers for Team Pilipinas in the game.

The National Youth Team will return to action in a week's time as they face the India National Team up next.

Great article as always. Are you a blogger? If not, you should be!

Pilipinas U21 falls short against Indian challenge

A determined India U-21 National squad took to the floor and proved their worth all-game long as they took down the Philippines U21 side, 106-92 as the Round Robin Stage in Pool B play continued at the Asian U21 Championships for Season 58.

The Filipinos were once again sluggish coming out of the gates in the opening quarter, surrendering a seven-point gap at the end of the first 12 minutes of play on the strength of their frontline beanpoles Sathiyadev Naskar and Ishudhi Saxena, who scored six each in the period.

The Indians would establish a 10-point lead midway into the second period, 34-24, but opening game hero JC Guardamano would engineer a run that would cut the deficit to five, 38-33. India would re-establish their largest lead later in the quarter, and just as a CM Fabella jumper would cut the deficit again to seven, 48-41, a Vadish Rath buzzer-beating tip-in would extend the lead back to nine, 50-41, entering the interval.

The second half saw not much luck for the Filipinos as the lead ballooned to 14 points on multiple occasions. Their last attempt at a comeback came with around seven minutes left in the game as an Atoy Pradrera layup made it 86-77, but a back-breaking 20-9 run in the ensuing five and a half minutes of the game proved to be too much to handle for the Filipinos.

The Philippines shot only 33% from the field and 34% from distance, which was below their clip of 54% overall and 46% from deep against Indonesia. Guardanamo proved to be a consistent scoring threat with 31 points, followed by Fabio Espero's 14. Fabella would score 13 points and grab 16 rebounds while Pradrera's 11 rounds up the double-digit scorers for the Philippines.

Their Indian counterparts were led by Ishudhi Saxena with 25 points and 16 boards, followed by Gabhastimata Vayunandan's 24 markers. Rath would have a double-double as well of 15 points and 17 rebounds as three other Indian players scored in double figures.

The loss evens out their card at 1-1. They will return to action next week as they take on Taiwan's U-21 team up next.

Great article,
I am very happy to win with a representation as strong as yours. I was afraid of a match with your national team, but my players that I have in my team are good basketball players and they faced such a big challenge.
Best regards from Poland
Paweł

Taiwan youth trounces Pilipinas U21

The Taiwan National U21 Team took little time to show their might against the Philippines Youth team, 82-56, at the continuation of Round Robin play in Pool B of the Asian U21 Championship for Season 58.

The Taiwanese would start the game scoring the first six points, while not allowing the Philippine five to get to the scoring column until just over three minutes into the first with a Quique Ibaigane jumper. The rest of the quarter though would see the Philippines struggle on offense as Taiwan takes it 23-16.

The second period would prove to be even worse for the Filipinos as Ding Jiak kwang would continue the onslaught scoring 10 points in the second quarter to help further compound the Philippines' woes entering the interval, 46-26.

The third quarter saw the Philippines take a better stand defensively, allowing just 14 points for Taiwan. But their shooting woes offensively would spillover the second half as they could not keep the game any closer to make it interesting entering the final period, 60-42.

Taiwan would finish the game off in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter by unleashing a 13-4 scoring run led by
Guan Chi hua and He Chee Pang, to pull away from the Philippines for good.

Jiak kwang would topscore with 24 points, backstopped by Chi hua's 19. Ibaigane would end up with 17 points and nine rebounds, followed by CM Fabella would score 16 points and grab eight boards.

The loss put the Philippines' down to a 1-2 win-loss card after three games, losing the tiebreaker to Indonesia. They will attempt to bounce back against the Lebanese U21 team as the tournament resumes in two weeks on September 5th.

Pilipinas U21 overwhelms Bahamas to stop skid

The Philippines Under-21 National Team got back on the win column as they annihilated Bahamas's youth side, 117-54, in a scrimmage before resuming their ongoing Asian U21 Championships campaign for Season 58 in Pool B play.

The Filipinos took little time to rack up the score as four players scored six points in the opening quarter in quite the literal display of balanced scoring to give Pilipinas a 32-17 lead. The Bahamians looked eager to bounce back in the second canto but the talent disparity between the two nations showed up bigtime, particularly on the defensive end as the Philippines allowed just six points in the second period while running away with the game by halftime, 63-23.

The second half was no better for the Bahamas, as the second unit and reserve players of Pilipinas were able to keep the momentum on their side of the court, further punishing the Bahamians until the final buzzer.

JC Guardamano bounced back nicely from his last outing with 18 points for the game, including 15 in the first half. He did not have to do much in the second half of the game though as his teammates were more than willing to pick up the cudgels on his behalf, as a total of eight players scored at least 10 points in the dominant win.

The Philippines showed their defensive might in the game, allowing just 26% field goal shooting for the Bahamians, including a shutout in three-point makes out of just ten attempts all-game long. Other statistical categories that jump out of the page is the 70-28 rebounding edge as well as the 25-10 advantage in the passing department.

The win arrests their 2-game losing streak and keeps them in the hunt for the next round of Pool play in the Asian tilt. They will look to sustain this run as they take on the Lebanese U21 team up next.

Last edited by Ceruver at 08/29/2022 20:11:21

Hey thanks. Not a blogger by any stretch and admittedly, I'm only engaged with writing for this team just because one of my key cogs is on it.