The Philippine men’s and women’s teams made it to the quarterfinals of the ongoing FIBA Under-18 Asia Cup 2017 in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. Seeded second in the men’s side, the Filipino cagers drew 15 points from Rhayyan Amsali as they lost to Malaysia, 17-21, and bounced back with an 18-13 win over Kazakhstan in Pool B.
With Harvey Pagsanjan and Andrew Velasco contributing 9 and 6 points, respectively, they went on advance to the quarterfinals with Malaysia.
The Philippines will clash with Pool C qualifier Qatar for a chance to make it to the semis.
The Filipinos are keen on duplicating their silver medal finish last year.
In the girls action, Kristine Cayabyab struck with 16 points as she led the sixth seed Philippines to a two-game sweep of Pool D.
They prevailed over Lebanon, 21-12, and Bahrain, 21-3.
This put them in the quarterfinals with Lebanon, which made it with their 21-3 stopping of Bahrain.
The Filipinas are set to meet Singapore.
A total of 16 teams joined Kyrgystan being the top seeded team in the men’s division.
Cayabyab is joined by Melody Cac, Reynalyn Ferrer and Mayu Goto.
They are in bracket D, and will meet Lebanon in their first assignment today at 5:20 p.m.
They then clash with Bahrain at 6:55 p.m.
Kyrgystan is the highest seeded squad in the girls side, followed by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Indonesia and Bahrain.