Marquee matchup ends with China victorious over Philippines

DOHA (Qatar) - China engaged with the Philippines in a game that was as intense as advertised with the former coming out ahead, 84-67.

The Philippines started the game on a high note, making 6 of their first 9 three-pointers - including 4 straight at one point. This gave the Philippines momentum early on as it nullified the height advantage China had over them.

However, that size difference would later have an impact as China kept turning to their big men. China had 17 second-chance points, a product of getting 15 offensive rebounds.

The Philippines shot only 5-20 from downtown the rest of the way, and even though China made only 30.4 percent of their three-pointers, the shot well over 50 percent from inside the arc.

China took the lead coming out of a tied halftime break and never trailed again, building up the cushion to as much as 18 points.

Boyuan Zhang led China in scoring with 17 points while Philippines' Kiefer Alas led all players with 20 to go with 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

Standout player: Wenhao Fu was the standout player for China in this game, finishing with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. Even though he didn't lead the team in scoring, Fu made 3 three-pointers which many came in important runs for his team.

Turning point: During a pivotal third-quarter run, the Philippines had rushed back to within one point of China after an and-one layup by Samuel Alegre. The momentum appeared to be shifting to the Philippines, but after Alegre missed the bonus free-throw, Wenwei He quicked retaliated with an emphatic and-one layup of his own. The Philippines' next possession ended up in a blocked shot by Sinan Huan, which seemed to douse the energy gathered by the team at that point.

Stats don't lie: China outscored the Philippines 40-20 in the paint. Not only does that put on display the advantage on offense for China, but it also emphasizes how much of a presence their big men had on the Philippines' offense.

FIBA