The Philippine National Youth Team, Energen Pilipinas made a back-to-back win after they defeated first the lowly Saudi Arabia followed up by a not so impressive win against Kazakhstan.
The Energen Pilipinas being coach by PBA veteran Olsen Racela was able to dominate Saudi Arabia during the Philippines first encounter in the tournament, giving a hard time for the Middle Eastern Team with an impressive win in the currently held FIBA Asia U-18 Tournament. Energen Pilipinas defeated Saudi Arabia with the final score at 95-52.
Racela’s boys who were composed mostly of college standouts from different major universities in the country showed up their capability as one of the title contender.
During the first game topscoring for Energen were Kyle Suarez of UP with 15 points, Co-captain J-Jay Alejandro scored 14 pts., Mario Bonleon added 13. Guards Jerie Pingoy and Rey Nambatac, the juniors’ MVPs of the UAAP and NCAA respectively, finished with 11 and 10 points for the Philippines.
In the second match of Energen U-18 Team, they have faced a more experienced Kazakhstan team, one of the few teams in Asia who rivaled the Philippines in terms of experience. Energen Pilipinas found it difficult to defeat Kazakhstan but they finally score a win with the final score at 83-69. The Philippines now moved on to the second round of the competition.
The Filipinos were led by Mario Bonleon of La Salle Greenhills, who had a team-high 20 points while co-captain J-Jay Alejandro finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three (–foul word(s) removed–)ists.
The Philippines will round up the Group Stage of the competition with an early match-up against powerhouse team Iran. The insurance of the Philippines to make it to the next round is already secured because three of the top four teams will make it to the next round.
