"PRESS RELEASE #06"
"THE PHILIPPINES U21 TRUMPLES SINGAPORE U21, 81-45"
The Philippines U21 and China U21 remained the only unbeaten teams in Pool B of Asia U21 Championship Tournament after dealing Singapore its second loss, 81-45, Monday at the Air Jordan arena managed by the Gang Green team in Australia.
Matt Blanca of Red Storm Army topscored for the Philippine Under-21 team with 20 points as they stayed on course for the Top 2 spot with their fifth straight win. Aurelio Talabucon and Delfin Mende, for only 18 minutes of playing time, made 12 and 10 points, respectively. Carl Marx Torreon, the youngest in the squad, was the risk-taker the whole game. Standing 6'10'' at the Power Forward position, he grabbed the most rebounds in the team against Choo Soon Ze of Singapore, and defended Abhijaat Singh, a 7'4'' behemoth, fearlessly throughout the game.
Nobody from the lineup reached double figures for the first time. Despite the victory the Philippines U21 had, only Lim Kang Xin and Abhijaat Singh (who played for the whole duration of the match) put up double double statistics in the game.
The Filipinos struggled in the second quarter of the match. They missed their first eight attempts in the quarter before Lucio Salvador Simbajon hustles for the offensive rebound and daggers a three-pointer, followed by the good defense Carl Marx Torreon had against Lim Kang Xin to lift the Philippine team. The de los Santos duo had difficulties scoring in this game. Neither of them had double-doubles like they usually do. Laurence de los Santos, who had 25% field goal shooting, only made 8 points and 9 rebounds, but he bounced back through defense, making three blocks against Abhijaat Singh. Levy delos Santos, on the other hand, only made 18.18% of his shots, and made 5 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block for the team.
Furthermore, during the third quarter, Casiano Rio provided great plays that allowed the Filipinos to get away from the Singaporeans. He made 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks for the Philippines.
The spectators courtside reporters interviewed said that even though the Filipinos won in a huge margin, this game was a lot more difficult than their game against Iran, where they showed fluid offense. Some critics added that this might be categorized under one of the hardest games in the tournament's history. The Philippines U21 and Singapore U21 only have 32.99% FG and 23.75%, respectively. Moreover, the Filipinos only made 14 assists, while Singapore U21 had 9 assists.
What gave the Filipinos the advantage was through defense: they made 10 blocks, 9 steals, and only commited 6 turnovers. Singapore, for the meanwhile, only produced 5 blocks and 3 steals, and made 19 turnovers.
"I told my first unit before facing the Singaporeans that their priority and mentality must be to defend, defend, and defend so that the opponent will be exhausted," CoachFabioMenta emphasized during the press con, "I told them that the second unit are the ones responsible for the scoring."
The Philippines U21 will face China tomorrow Monday, 6:30 P.M.
The final scores:
PHILIPPINES U21, 81: Blanca 20, Talabucon 12, Mende 10, de los Santos 8, Torreon 7, Simbajon 6, Carisma 6, delos Santos 5, Conklin 5, Baybay 2, Rio 0, Robles 0.
SINGAPORE U21, 45: Kang Xin 16, Singh 12, Wee Teck 5, Wai Dong 5, Soon Ze 4, Qingxian 2, De Heng 1, Jian Liang 0