Philippines U21 returns home and sweeps past Malta U21 – 111-87The bleachers were lined with welcome banners as the crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum were eager to see their home team again. The Philippines U21 team had a 2-week layoff after the controversial victory over South Africa last week. South Africa failed to show up 15 minutes prior to the match and was declared a walkover handing Philippines the victory before they even stepped on the playing court.
The rust factor was obvious due to the long layoff as both Malta and Philippines had scoring droughts throughout the game. Philippines went ahead 10-19 after Paspe’s 2 free throws, but Malta rallied with 4 consecutive baskets to narrow the gap at the end of the first quarter.
Malta kept within striking distance and narrowed the lead to 65-60 after a put back by Attard with 2:27 to go in the 3rd quarter. But Robert Olo responed with 8 points of his own including a barage of inside baskets to inflate the lead to 64-77 that kept Malta at bay.
(https://i.imgur.com/Qr29LEr.png)(https://i.imgur.com/2Ou6gpR.png)Philippines were led by
Luzviminda and
Tabanillo who had 22 points each but they both went cold beyond the arc shooting a horrible 4/20 from 3pt land. Luzviminda however held his own defensively and added 5 steals and 4 blocks. Centers
Olo and
Dahl both had double-doubles with 12 rebounds each as the entire starting five scored in double figures.
Zammit had a monster game with 25 points and 24 rebounds as he tried to keep Malta in the game. Philippines forced 19 turnovers as Malta struggled to get past the full court pressure committing a total of 23 TOs.
(https://i.imgur.com/vzLr1WJ.png)Next Game:vs. Indonesia U21
Last edited by Pro_Shot 🇵🇠at 2/2/2018 3:52:54 AM