Chinese-Taipei ousts B Gilas in Asia U-18

MANILA, Philippines - Team Philippines cracked under pressure and dropped a heartbreaking 86-90 setback to Chinese Taipei yesterday, bowing out of the 23rd FIBA-Asia Under-18 Championship at the Al-Gharafa gym in Doha, Qatar.

Batang Gilas surged ahead at 82-80 with less than six minutes left in the contest but missed crucial shots in the stretch, enabling the Taiwanese to escape with the win and a spot in the Final Four against powerhouse China.

Going into the game, Batang Gilas, whose campaign is sponsored by MVP Sports Foundation and Smart, was hoping to gain a shot at one of the three berths for next year’s FIBA U-18 World Championship in Greece.

But the loss dropped Batang Gilas to a duel with Kazakhstan for fifth.

The other semis match pits South Korea against Iran.

Kobe Paras, who plays for Cathedral in Los Angeles, and Dave Wilson Yu, muffed a pair of three-point tries as the Taiwanese hung on to an 89-86 lead before Tu Ssu Han sealed the Filipinos’ doom with a split.

Paul Desiderio rifled in a triple that knotted the count at 86 with a minute and eight seconds remaining but Lin Ming Yi countered with his own trey, lifting the Taiwanese to another three-point lead at 89-86 lead, 52 seconds to go.

National U’s Mark Anthony Dyke fired a game-high 26 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, San Beda’s Ranbill Tongco had 16 markers and eight assists, Paras came away with 15 points and 11 rebounds with three assists and the same number of steals and blocks to boot.