Batang Gilas, with barely a week left before they plunge into action in the 2018 FIBA U16 Asian Championship, had their hands full against Filam Sports USA during their tune up game at the Meralco Gym Saturday evening.
The Fil-Ams started strong with their relentless attack while Batang Gilas struggle with their defense. At half time USA was up by 22 points, 60-38.
In the second half, Batang Gilas struggled even more as Filam's lead ballooned to 30 in the last three minutes of the third quarter, 85-55.
Batang Gilas picked up the pace in the last remaining minutes of the third quarter to cut down the lead to 16, 87-71. In the last quarter, Batang Gilas got their groove courtesy of Terrence Fortea cutting down the lead to just 6 with a minute left. But they ran out of time and Filam Sports USA took the win, 111-102.
Filam Sports USA on the other hand was honored to have played and helped the national team.
"It was an amazing opportunity for our boys, for myself as coach to play in front of a lot of representatives from the Philippine national team, the competition," said coach Andrew Gauthier. "It's amazing!"
Filam's star player, Jalen Green, decided to skip the game to get some rest.
"My shoulder, I hurt it with game against NU (in the NBTC) and there was a lot of fouling, very aggressive game," Green shared. "Good competition. And in the all-star game I hurt my butt so I'm injured right now."
"We're thankful, we're blessed that we even had this opportunity to come play them. They're a great team so were grateful they asked us to come here." Green also had some career advice for Sotto. "I appreciate what he did," Sotto said. "He approached me and told me to go to the States. He asked if I was going, I told I don't have any plans yet. But of course one of my goals is to join competitions in the States. Green is a very nice player."
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