THE Energen Pilipinas Under-16 squad suffered the same fate as their senior counterparts as they lost to South Korea, 58-67, Thursday night in the semifinals of the FIBA Asia U-16 Championship in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
The U-16 squad started strong as so often been the norm in this tournament. But Korea took advantage of their superior size, controlling the boards and stifling the Filipino running game in the second quarter as they slowly pulled away to take an eight-point advantage at the half.
The Koreans held the Philippines at bay for much of the third period opening up a lead of as high as 13 points, but Hubert Cani, who momentarily stepped out after getting a cut on his head when he collided with the teeth of his defender, returned to score five consecutive points to bring the lead back down to eight late in the third.
Energen Pilipinas had one last run in them, as Henry Asilum, Tomas Ramos and Rev Diputado scored the first six points and eight of the first 10 in the fourth to get as close as 60-58 midway through the period. But the Korean defense, which relied heavily on an extended zone through most of the game, held steady as Energen Pilipinas went scoreless the rest of the way.
The Philippines missed more than 10 consecutive shots over the last five minutes of the game.
Team captain J-Jay Alejandro scored 12 points, all of them coming in the first half while Sacred Heart School-Atene de Cebu stalwart Henry Asilum, who is missing his mother team’s championship run, chipped in 12 of his own.
Heo Hoon finished with 22 points while Kim Nakhyeon and Kim Gookchan scored 16 apiece for Korea. Correspondent Jonas Panerio