Gilas Youth prevents massive meltdown, wards off Chinese Taipei

MANILA, Philippines – Following a brutal loss in the quarterfinals, the Gilas Youth bounced back with a 72-67 triumph over Chinese Taipei in the classification phase of the FIBA U18 Asian Championship on Friday, August 26, at the Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran, Iran.

The Filipinos overpowered their opponents in the middle quarters but struggled heavily to close out the victory as Chinese Taipei almost completed a stunning comeback.

It was the second loss of Chinese Taipei to the Philippines after falling 84-73 in their group stage clash last August 23.

Gilas Youth sensation Mason Amos notched a game-high 21 points on a 9-of-15 shooting from the field to go with 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Earl Jared Abadam and Jared Bahay also poured in 14 points each for the Philippines.

Wei Chieh Yeh and Chun Yen Kuo recorded 17 and 12 points, respectively, for Chinese Taipei, while Te Chi Hsu filled in the stat sheet with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals.

Unlike in their previous bout against Lebanon in the quarterfinals, the Filipinos started the match much better as they moved sharper and forced their opponents to use the entire shot clock before taking a shot.

A full day of rest and reflection might have reenergized the Filipinos, but their aggressiveness led to 10 free throw attempts for Chinese Taipei in the opening quarter alone.

Aside from converting 9-of-10 foul shots, Chinese Taipei showed its impressive offensive repertoire by scoring inside and outside the arc as they erected a 19-12 lead heading into the next frame.

Gilas Youth then stormed back to taste its first lead of the game, 22-21, courtesy of a Seven Gagate fastbreak layup at the 5:45 mark of the second period.

Both teams proceeded to trade baskets without exchanging the lead, but after the timeout of Philippine head coach Josh Reyes at the 2:43 mark, the Filipinos went on to score 8 unanswered points to end the half with a 35-27 advantage.

Ming Hsueh Cheng’s free throw inside the first minute of the third quarter temporarily cut the Philippines’ 8-0 run, but the Filipinos answered back with a 7-0 spurt behind Manuel Pablo, Abadam, and Amos to build a 42-28 lead.

The Filipinos’ largest lead of the game came at the 3:02 mark of the third quarter after Gagate converted a jump shot to push the lead to 55-35.

Gagate finished with 8 points on top of 14 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.

In the fourth quarter, Chinese Taipei was able to cut the lead down to 10 points twice and even inched closer at 72-67 with just 26 seconds left on the game clock.

Luckily for the Filipinos, they avoided a massive meltdown as Chinese Taipei missed its last two attempts as the clock ran down to the final buzzer.

The Philippines will close out its campaign against the winner of the Iran versus Qatar classification match on Sunday, August 28, at the same venue.

A victory in their next game will ensure the Filipinos a fifth-place finish, while a loss will put them at sixth.