Consistency is key to RP victory in FIBA-Asia U18 tilt

Nokia-Philippines Under-18 coach Eric Altamirano believes his wards need to be more consistent with their game if they want to win the crown in the FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship. The Philippines will face Chinese-Taipei on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Manila time in the knockout quarterfinal round of the quadrennial basketball event for Under-18 players at the 22nd May Gym in Sana’a Yemen. “I think the key at this level is to play consistently. There is no point in playing well one day and going down the next," said Altamirano, who is also hoping that his wards have learned from the team’s losses against China and Yemen. Altamirano, who is hoping to improve the Philippines’ eighth-place finish in 2008, added that Chinese-Taipei is almost the same size as the Philippines. “They (Chinese-Taipei) have taller players. We’ll take advantage of our rest day (Tuesday) as we aim to go out strong tomorrow," said Altamirano, who needs two more wins to enter the finals. “Our initial target was to reach the quarterfinals. We came here looking to consolidate what we learned in Johor, as well as for the continuity of the national development program. We also expected tougher competition in terms of playing taller, stronger, and more mature teams," he said. The Filipinos, behind Kiefer Ravena’s 23 points, formalized their entry into the eight-team round after a 68-59 win over Iraq on Monday. The Philippines ended the second round with a 3-2 mark, the same record posted by host Yemen and Japan. China remains undefeated after five games. Other quarterfinal matches pit China against Lebanon, Japan versus Korea and Yemen against Iran. The winners will advance to the semifinals. The tournament offers three tickets to the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship in Latvia. – KY/JVP, GMANews.TV