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MANILA – Batang Gilas landed on 13th place in the 2018 FIBA U-17 World Cup after clobbering New Zealand 73-51 in the classification round at the Union Athletic Club in Santa Fe, Argentina Sunday night (Monday in Manila).
Kai Sotto continued his fine play with double-double 22 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks while Terrence Fortea added 12 markers – with four triples – for the Philippines.
The Filipinos also escaped Egypt on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) 70-69. They lost three eliminations matches, one round-of-16 game and one classification tiff prior to this.
Batang Gilas surged to a 14-6 start against New Zealand with shots from Sotto, Maclaude Guadana and Rence Padrigao. The opponent trimmed the deficit 12-14 but a late shot from Sotto increased Batang Gilas’ lead 16-12.
New Zealand was keeping the gap close in the second period, down only 23-27, when Batang Gilas slowly pulled away with shots from Sotto and Guadana for a 35-24 halftime lead.
Batang Gilas pulled away for good in the second half with Shaun Chiu, Gerry Abadiano and Fortea contributing on offense and built its largest lead in the game 70-47 on an Abadiano basket.
Mitchell Dance finished with double-double 12 points and 11 rebounds while Shalom Broughton added 10 markers for New Zealand./PN