Energen Pilipinas unleashed a scorching fourth-quarter assault to escape Kazakhstan, 83-69, and book a ticket to the second round of the Fiba Asia U18 Championship yesterday at the Buyant-Ukhaa Arena in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.
Contrary to their previous 95-52 rout of Saudi Arabia, the Nationals had a difficult time pulling away from the taller, heftier Kazakhs, but Mario Bonleon and J-Jay Alejandro rediscovered their shooting form in the payoff period to seal their second win and formalize their entry into the second round.
Bonleon, a cold-blooded sniper from La Salle Grenhills, finished with 20 points while Alejandro nailed 11 of his 18 points in the fourth period along with six rebounds and three assists as the Nationals dropped a 10-1 bomb in the last five minutes to capture the win.
Also emerging victorious in the second day of this tournament that stakes a seat to the Fiba World U19 Championship in Prague, Czech Republic are China, which clobbered India, 119-54; Lebanon, which dominated Hong Kong, 113-70; and Japan, which crushed Singapore, 110-53, to avenge their opening-day loss to bitter East Asian rival Korea.
But the highlight of the day belongs to the hard-fighting Filipinos, who played their hearts out despite the lack of ceiling.
Bannered by Alexey Kurochka, Alymzhan Maxutov and Maxim Marchuk, Kazakhstan threatened to pull an upset, leading by as much as seven early in the game, 26-19.
The Nationals threw their defensive blanket to silence the Kazakh gunners while Bonleon spearheaded a resounding 19-2 blast in the next eight minutes to give Energen an eight-point lead entering the third period, 38-30.
The Kazakhs refused to die and got to as close as one point in the opening minutes of the fourth period following Marchuk's three free throws, 55-56.
Then, Alejandro caught fire, igniting a 10-1 run to restore a double-digit advantage, 66-56, only four minutes left in the game. He also drilled nine free throws in the dying minutes to ensure the morale-boosting win entering a crucial game against two-time champion Iran today.
Maxutov and Kurochka led the Kazakhs with 22 points apiece while Marchuk had 14 markers.