THE young Philippine squad looks to salvage at least a fifth place finish as it takes on Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai in the Fiba Asia Champions Cup classification round on Friday.
The match starts at 4:45 p.m. at the Chenzhou Sports Center in China, less than 24 hours after the Chooks-To-Go team bowed out of title contention.
Chooks got the boot in the tournament after a 70-86 beating at the hands of China Kashgar on Thursday, relegating it to the classification round against the Emiratis.
Still, Chooks coach Chot Reyes is proud of how his team fared against the host team that didn't even need the services of Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player Andray Blatche.
Blatche watched the game from the bench, while his team took the fight out of his fellow Filipinos in the fourth period behind import Darius Adams and Mugedaer Xirelijiang.
"Proud of the guys' effort, pero hanggang doon lang talaga," Reyes posted on his Twitter account @coachot shorlty after the loss.
Kiefer Ravena, who has led the locals in scoring with 21.2 points, shared a similar sentiment.
"It's a great experience playing against China even though we lost," he said.
Now the Filipino dribblers will shift their focus on the UAE team led by Qais Omar Alshabebi.
Alshabebi has been at the forefront of UAE's attack, averaging 23.2 points and 12.0 rebounds.
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