GILAS Pilipinas Youth marched on to the fifth-place game after scoring a repeat over Chinese Taipei, 72-67, in the classification rounds of the 2022 Fiba Under-18 Asian Championship Friday at Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran.
Gilas Youth vs Chinese Taipei recap
But it wasn't without a scare as the Filipinos committed seven turnovers in the last five minutes that allowed the Taiwanese to trim the lead to its lowest at five in the final spread.
Nonetheless, a win is a win for the wards of coach Josh Reyes as it progressed to the battle for fifth place, awaiting the winner of the game between Qatar and Iran.
Mason Amos dropped 21 points, six rebounds, and three assists as he had six in the third quarter where the Philippines extended the lead to as big as 20 points, 55-35, with 3:02 left in the canto.
He, however, could not deliver the exclamation point as he missed a dunk in the waning seconds of the game -- emblematic of the struggles that the national youth team faced late in the game as they only pulled the game off thanks to the big cushion they built.
EJ Abadam sparked the Filipinos' 23-point second quarter assault as he scored six in the frame as the Pinoys built a 35-27 halftime lead. He ended up with 14 points and six boards.
Jared Bahay also got 14 points and five rebounds, as Seven Gagate got eight points, 14 boards, and two dimes in the victory.
The Philippines replicated its 84-73 win over the Taiwanese in the group stages last Tuesday.
Wei Chieh Yeh paced Chinese Taipei with 17 points on 3-of-8 clip from deep, while Te Chi Hsu collected 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists in the loss.
Chun Yen Kuo had 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three steals as he pulled the Taiwanese to their closest at five before the time expired.
The Scores:
PHILIPPINES 72 -- Amos 21, Abadam 14, Bahay 14, Gagate 8, Gamber 5, Nacua 5, Pablo 3, Coronel 1, Demisana 0, Andres 0, Porter 0.
CHINESE TAIPEI 67 -- Wei 17, Te 16, Chun YK 12, Chun SC 9, Lu 4, Ming HC 3, Hsuan 3, Ming JX 3, Yi 0, Tzu 0, Yu 0.
Quarters: 12-19, 35-27, 59-43, 72-67.
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