MANILA, Philippines – Batang Gilas showed great resolve before falling to Chinese Taipei, 86-90, in the Fiba Asia U-18 Championship late Tuesday night (Manila time) in Doha, Qatar.
The loss ended the Philippines’ hopes of clinching a spot in the Fiba U-19 World Championship in Greece in 2015 and instead was relegated to the classification phase for 5th to 8th slots.
Mark Dyke led the Filipinos, who will play Kazakhstan next, with 26 points and 13 rebounds while Kobe Paras also posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Radge Tongco and Paul Desiderio also had big games for Batang Gilas. Tongco had 16 points and eight assists while Desiderio scored 11, including a basket that tied the game at 86-all near the final minute, that went with seven rebounds and four assists.
Chinese Taipei though, found a hero in Lin Ming-Yi, who knocked down the go-ahead 3-pointer, 89-86, with under a minute left. It was Lin’s fourth triple of the game and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Taipei, which advanced to the semifinals.
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