JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia – The Nokia U-16 Team Pilipinas put on another brave stand against the tall Chinese squad, but fell short, losing 85-66, in the semifinals of the Fiba Asia U-16 Men’s Championship Thursday night at the Bandaraya Stadium here.

The Nationals, behind the hot hands of Jeron Teng and Keifer Ravena surprisingly dominated the first quarter, posting a 19-15 lead.

But the Chinese imposed their height advantage in the second quarter to take control of the match before ripping the game wide apart in the fourth quarter.

With the loss, the Nationals were relegated into a battle for third against Iran.

The Chinese, on the other hand, will face the Koreans in the finals. The Koreans earned their place in the finals following their pulsating 82-81 win over the Iranians.

For advancing to the finals, the Chinese and Koreans secured berth to the FIBA World U-17 Men’s Championship in Hamburg, Germany next year.

The last time the Philippines team won a medal in the tournament was in 1992 when it bagged the bronze medal.

“Qualifying in the semifinals is already a big achievement considering the toughness of this tournament,” said RP mentor Eric Altamirano, a member of the 1986 youth squad along with other big guns like Jerry Codinera and Alvin Patrimonio.

It was China’s smallest winning margin in this 16-nation tournament after walloping Saudi Arabia by 80, 109-29; Jordan by 73, 117-44; and India by 74, 121-47, in the eliminations. In the quarterfinals, it destroyed Chinese Taipei by 47, 108-61; Korea by 70, 121-51; and Japan by 50, 115-65, to post an average winning margin of 65 points in six games.

Teng paced Team Pilipinas with 18 points and five rebounds while Ravena knocked in 17 markers.

The scores:
China 85 – Ju 18, Zhai 15, Wang 13, Guo 11, Zhu 9, Xu 8, Luo 7, Shi 4, Bi 0, Gao 0, Ding 0, Wei 0.
Philippines 66 – Teng 18, Ravena 17, Sara 13, Ferrer 6, Tolomia 4, Pessumal 4, Alolino 2, Romero 2, Pate 0, Bantayan 0, Javillonar 0.
Quarters: 15-19, 36-32, 55-47, 85-66.