PHL CRUSHES JAPAN
The Philippines defeats Japan, faces Syria for fifth place
The Philippines bounced back from a quarterfinals loss to South Korea with a convincing 113-80 win over Japan in the 5th-8th place Classification Round of basketball in the 2018 Asian Games in the GBK Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia last night.
Christian Standhardinger had his best game in the tournament to lead the Philippines with a double-double of 27 points ad 13 rebounds. He also had three steals and was very accurate from the field, missing just three of 14 attempts.
Jordan Clarkson, who was the Philippines’ top scorer in the last two contests, once again showed up for the team with 22 points, nine assists, six boards and a block.
Paul Lee was the only other Filipino in double digits with 17. All the players from the Philippines, except for James Yap, scored four points or more. Yap was the only Filipino player who didn’t see action.
Sweet-shooting Taichi Nakamura led Japan with 16 markers, shooting four of nine from beyond the arc, and dished out 11 assists. Naoya Kumage had 15, Leo Vendrame and Avi Koki Scafer had 11 each, while Tenketsu Harimoto and Atsuya Ota scored 10 apiece.
It was a close game from the get-go with the Philippines trading baskets with Japan. The Philippines, however, finally broke away with the impressive scoring tandem of Standhardinger and Clarkson.
The Philippines takes on Syria for fifth place in the tournament on Friday. Syria beat host Indonesia, 76-66, to earn the right to face the Philippines.
The Philippines finished in seventh place in the last Asian Games after beating Mongolia, 84-68, in 2014 in South Korea. /