Kai Sotto finished with 26 points, 21 rebounds and 6 blocks, but his dominant play wasn't enough in the Philippine junior men's basketball team's 60-54 loss to China in the FIBA Asia Under-16 Championship at Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium in China on Saturday.

The defeat relegated Batang Gilas to the fight for the bronze medal versus New Zealand, while it sent China to the gold-medal game against Australia.

It was the second consecutive 20-20 game by Sotto, who tallied 28 points an 21 rebounds in the Philippines' quarterfinal victory over Japan on Friday.

After falling behind by as many as 12 points, the visitors fought back to within striking distance with 1:07 left in the game.

Two free throws by Sotto made it 57-53, but China forward Sun Haoqin dashed Batang Gilas' hopes with a 3-point play.

It was close in the first half until China limited the Philippines to 1 field goal in the first 5 minutes of the third quarter to go up 39-30. The hosts entered the fourth ahead 48-36.

That's when Batang Gilas turned up its defense, allowing China to score just 1 basket in 6-and-a-half minutes to put itself in position for an upset.

But Sun's basket shut the door on the Filipinos.

Terence Fortea added 18 points, 9 rebounds and 2 3-pointers for the Philippines, which already booked a spot in the FIBA Under-17 World Cup.

RC Calimag, who made the winning shot in Batang Gilas' win against Japan, missed the game because of a hyperextended knee.

Even without Calimag (hyperextended knee) our boys are fighting. Tama na muna nega. Cheer lang tayo para sa #BatangGilas. Lumalaban ang mga bata e

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) April 7, 2018

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