THE Philippines beat Bahrain, 98-58, on Thursday at the start of the 2015 Fiba-Asia Under-16 Championship in Jakarta.
Dave Ildefonso topscored for the Batang Gilas cagers with 16 points while Juan Gerardo Gomez De Llano had 15 in the lopsided victory to start their campaign in Group C play.
Batang Gilas, coached by Mike Oliver, opened a 22-13 lead after one quarter before outscoring Bahran, 33-13, in the second period behind eight points from Ildefonso, son of two-time PBA MVP Danny.
Will Gozum had 14 points and nine rebounds for Batang Gilas, who will next face Southeast Asian neighbor Thailand on Friday to end the preliminary phase. Another member of the group, North Korea, backed out of the tournament.
The Philippines, mentored by Jamike Jarin, lost to China in the gold medal match in 2013 in this tournament that serves as a qualifier for the 2016 Fiba-Asia Under-17 Championship.
Batang Gilas made the tournament the last time.
The scores:
Philippines (98) — Ildefonso 16, Gomez De Llano 15, Gozum 14, Tibayan 12, Mamuyac 12, Pagsanjan 9, Credo 7, Publico 6, Belangel 5, Escalona 2, Flores 0.
Bahrain (58) — Abdulhusain 21, B. Ali 8, Aboukuora 7, Salman 7, Alsaffar 7, H. Mohamed 4, Khan 2, Almajed 2, M. Mohamed 0, H. Ali 0, F. Ali 0, M. Abdulkarim 0.
Quarterscores: 22-13, 55-26, 79-40, 98-58.
