GILAS Pilipinas Youth were bounced out of contention in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup after a 117-103 defeat to China in their quarterfinal on Friday in Ahmedabad, India.
Gilas U18 couldn’t recover from a strong start by China that saw it lead, 33-20, at the end of the first quarter, forcing the Filipino youngsters to play catch-up the rest of the way.
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The defeat ended not only the Philippines’ title bid but also its chances at qualifying for the 2027 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup which goes to the U18 Asia Cup semifinalists.
Chog Moral had 26 points and six steals for Gilas Youth, which was relegated to the battle for fifth to eighth places where it will play two more games beginning with the match-up against the loser of the quarterfinal between New Zealand and Japan.
Tensions appeared to flare in the final seconds when China seemed to take exception to a steal and lay-up by Moral in the final seconds, with head coach Jianjung Wang called for a technical foul with 2.5 seconds left. Cooler heads prevented the incident from escalating.
Gilas Youth couldn’t keep up with China’s 52 percent (17-of-33) shooting from threes, compared to 39 percent (14-of-36) for the Philippines.
Zichao Wang had 25 points, while Yuxiu Chen had 23 points and six assists for China.
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