Chinese Taipei gives PH U18 cagers the boot

The Philippines lost its bid for a world berth after bowing to Chinese Taipei in a heartbreaking 90-86 decision in the knockout quarterfinals of the Fiba Asia Under-18 Championship on Tuesday night at Al-Gharafa Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

After the Taiwanese shattered the 86-86 deadlock with Lin Ming-Yi’s clutch triple, Batang Gilas fumbled in the closing seconds with Joshua Caracut turning the ball over and Dave Yu and Kobe Paras missing shots.

The loss relegated the Philippines to the consolation round where it will battle two more teams starting with Kazakhstan Wednesday for a shot at finishing fifth place at best.

Tu Su-Han, whose free throw set the final tally, paced the Taiwanese with 23 points.

Mark Dyke led the Filipinos with a double-double of 26 points and 13 rebounds, while Radge Tongco (16 points and eight assists) and Paras (15 points and 11 rebounds) also tried to carry the fight for the young Filipinos in the tight duel.

Chinese Taipei will go up against defending champion China in the semifinals, while Korea, the runner-up in the last two editions, will clash with Iran in the other Final 4 pairing.

The national under-18 squad had hoped to duplicate the feat of the under-16 boys last year, where they finished runner-up to China in the Fiba Asia tournament to clinch a world berth for the first time.