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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.

Pilipinas U21 uses balanced attack to fend off Lebanon

The Philippine national youth team snapped their two-game skid in the ongoing Asia U21 Championships for Season 58 with their 95-88 win over the Lebanese U21 side in Pool B play last Monday afternoon.

Not even ten seconds into the match and the Lebanon side were already one man down with the freak injury to starting point guard Rashid Habeebah, leaving Hassan Nasser El-Hadeed to man the point for the rest of the game on their behalf. This did not prove to affect their charge as much for they are able to keep within distance with the Filipinos at the end of the opening period, 25-24.

The second canto saw Quique Ibaigane and Glenn Trio connive to keep the lead on the Philippines' side as they scored 23 first half point combined as the Filipinos maintained a 50-44 edge at the interval.

While the Lebanese point guard play was decent, it still proved to be not enough as the Middle East nation found it hard to find the bottom of the net consistently to start the second half, scoring just 15 points in the third quarter. That, coupled with backup point guard Fabio Espero finding his shooting touch as he scattered nine points in the period, allowed the Southeast Asian power to take a 71-59 lead entering the fourth.

The fourth quarter saw more offensive flow from Lebanon, but even with the increased vigour they could not mount a strong enough challenge to take the lead from the Filipinos.

A balanced attack saw the Ibagaine and Trio lead the Philippines with 15 and 14 points, respectively, with Trio grabbing 12 boards as well. CM Fabella and Wilhelm Saguing and Jose Miguel Guilaran all scored 12 each. And while they were the only ones in double figures, the nine-point contributions of Espero, Rafael Fadul and Irvin Portugal each proved their ability to find the open man almost every time down the floor.

The win evens out their record at two wins against two losses and puts them back in the hunt to advance to the next round of pool play. They will face South Asian side Pakistan's youth team next this coming Monday afternoon.

Pilipinas U21 bludgeons Pakistan in Asian tilt

By virtue of a robust interior attack using a combination of inside slashing and post-up plays, the Philippine National Youth team dominated a hapless Pakistan side, 135-76, to notch their third win in Pool B play in the ongoing Asian U21 Championships for Season 58 this past Monday afternoon.

It looked like the Filipinos were going to have a fight on their hands as the opening quarter ended with just a seven point lead, 32-25. But the class of Pilipinas eventually showed as they more than doubled the Pakistanis' production with a 38-17 second period to take the game away as early as the end of the first half, 70-42, thru the efforts of Irvin Portugal and Raphael Novilla, who combined for 27 points in the first 24 minutes of action.

The game was out of reach from that point on as the South Asian side seemed lifeless the rest of the way while the Philippines kept their foot on the gas pedal all the way until the final buzzer. The dominance was typified by the seven double-digit scoring players for the Philippines, led by Novilla's 28 points in just 20 minutes of action off the bench. Every member of the roster saw action on the floor and they all contributed at least a field goal in the blowout victory. The rotation was very healthy in this match as well as no member of the Philippine team lasted longer than 26 minutes on the floor.

The Pakistanis were led by Mohammad Rubel's 27 points, but could not find a consistent scoring partner with Sam Attar coming closest with just 12 markers.

The win enables Pilipinas U21 to jump ahead of Malaysia in the Pool B standings with a game remaining to further cement their spot in the next round of Pool play. They will face Japan's youth team up next week as the Philippines look to wrap their Pool B assignments on a winning note and build momentum for the next round.

Japan youth scores overtime upset over Pilipinas U21

A herculean effort by the Japanese Under-21 national team paid off as they took down the Philippines' youth squad, 105-103 in overtime to secure their third win in Pool B play at the ongoing Asian U21 Championships for Season 58.

Japan already showed signs of fight from the opening tip as Katsumi Shimura and Jotaro Koma connived to lead Nippon to a 25-22 lead at the end of the first quarter. This was quickly turned around in the second period, however, by the improved scoring of Quique Ibaigane and Ge Kuanxiong as they turned the three-point deficit into a 13-point lead, 52-39, at halftime.

But just as the Filipinos looked poised to pull away from their Far Eastern counterparts, Japan would keep riding the hot hand of Koma to come to within four point multiple times within the third frame. JC Guardamano and CM Fabella would join the scoring fray to keep Japan at bay but the game has been made closer entering the final canto, 74-69, setting up for the eventual cardiac finish.

The quarter-long struggle would see both sides exchange the lead over the remaining 12 minutes. But as the game was entering the last 2-minute mark, Japan have taken the driver's seat, 91-90. Irvin Portugal would then score for the Philippines to make it 92-91 for the Filipinos. Shimura would attempt to shoot a go-ahead three-pointer from straight-on, only to miss the shot as Japan scrambled to foul Unna Emiliano Rico, who received the ball from CM Fabella after the latter grabbed the rebound. Rico would split his charities to make it 93-91, leaving the door ajar for Japan. Takahide Fugunaga would then oblige, scoring on a layup coming off of a timeout with 15 ticks remaining to force the extra session between the two nations at 93-all.

Overtime would prove to be just as dramatic as the previous period as both teams did not let the other get any further than two points for the additional five minutes of play. With about 47 seconds remaining, CM Fabella would connect with a jam underneath from a beautiful Portugal dime to tie the game yet again at 100-all. Japan would answer with a pretty pass play of their own as Shimura found Kosei Kamioka for a layup to break the deadlock anew at 102-100 for Japan.

In the ensuing play, Rico would launch a desperation heave from long distance, which finds the bottom of the net and give the Philippines back the lead, 103-102. But Nippon would find an answer as Eiji Nakao shot a heavily-challenged triple that went in to punch the eventual final score of the game. Portugal would have an attempt afterwards with just one second remaining but his fade-away from about 4-feet hit the back iron.

Ibaigane would end up with 24 points, followed by Kuanxiong's 18 and Fabella's 16 points and 13 rebounds. Fortunato Arcega and JC Guardamano would score 12 and 11 points, respectively, in the losing effort.

The Japanese were paced by Koma's 34 points, with Satoru Kai scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Kamioka would scored 13 points while three other Nippon players would score in double figures.

Despite the loss, the Philippines will advance to the next round of pool play due to their superior point differential over Indonesia and Japan, who they share identical 3-3 slates. With their win, Japan's differential allows them to overtake Indonesia's spot, which means that they are eliminated from the bi-seasonal tourney.

Last edited by Ceruver at 09/20/2022 08:53:57