JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia — While they’re short in size, Nokia U-16 Team Pilipinas coach Eric Altamirano hopes to use their big fighting heart and discipline to their advantage when they battle the tall but quick Chinese squad this Friday in the semifinals of the Fiba Asia U-16 Men’s Championship at the Bandaraya Stadium here.

“The Chinese are not kids, they’re giants. They have a mature game and they know how to win big game like this,” said Altamirano.

“We just have to play more as a team, hide our weaknesses and stick to our game plan. We have a very effective system and we’ll use it to our advantage.”

Game time is set at the 6 p.m. with the Nationals determined to slay another giant in the Chinese squad.

Clashing in the other semifinals pairing are Korea and Iran.

Winners in both semifinals matches can secure berths to the 2010 Fiba World U-17 Men’s Championship set Hamburg, Germany.

The Nationals could have opted for a lighter opponent in Korea, but they lost to Iran, 70-76, in the quarterfinals after crushing Japan, Kazakhstan and Bahrain in the eliminations.

“We’re hoping to face Korea rather than China. But it’s our fate. There must be a reason. Now, we have no choice but to play our hearts out,” said Altamirano, a member of the RP Youth Team of 1986.

Boasting an average height of 6-foot-4 and skills of full-grown men, China is heavily favored to prevail over the Filipinos after scoring runaway wins in all previous games.

After breezing through the eliminations, the Chinese creamed Chinese Taipei by 47, 108-61; Korea by 70, 121-51; and Japan by 50, 115-65.