Philippine basketball team tries to salvage fifth place in Asiad versus Syria today
ALREADY out of the medal running at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia, the Philippine men’s national basketball team goes for the next best thing — a fifth-place — in its game today against Syria at the Gelora Bung Karno-Istora stadium in Jakarta.
Set for 7:30 p.m. (Manila time), the Philippine Basketball Association-backed team looks to finish its campaign on a winning note and improve on the country’s seventh-place finish in the 2014 Asiad in Incheon, South Korea.
“We are assured of sixth place. But we still have to play one game against [Syria]. We want to finish our campaign here (with a win), even if we don’t have a medal,” said national team coach Yeng Guiao.
The Philippines put itself in a position to vie for fifth after routing Japan, 113-80, in their consolation battle on Tuesday where Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger had a solid 27 points and 13 rebounds.
Filipino-American National Basketball Association player Jordan Clarkson had 22 markers and nine assists.
The Filipinos saw their medal hopes crumble after they lost to South Korea, 91-82, in the quarterfinals on Monday.
Despite falling short of a podium finish, Mr. Guiao said he is very proud of the players’ efforts in the tournament despite the limited time they had in the lead-up to it.
“Our players gave a great effort and I could not have asked for more from them,” said Mr. Guiao following their game against South Korea.
In the tournament, the Philippines has chalked up a 2-2 record, winning its first game against Kazakhstan, 96-59, in preliminary play in Group D before dropping a close one against China, 82-80, to finish second in the group heading into the quarterfinals.
Syria, meanwhile, was second in Group B before losing to Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals. It defeated Indonesia to set up a meeting with the Philippines for fifth place. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
