AHMEDABAD (India) - Chinese Taipei secured a 7th-place finish in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 after earning a measure of payback against the Philippines, 89-78, at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium, Sunday.
Similar to their opening day encounter, the competitors from EABA needed to overhaul another early double-digit deficit, but played more consistently this time as they clearly no longer wanted to fall short once more.
After Gilas Youth led by a dozen in the second chapter, the crew went on a furious 16-0 scoring tear toward a 42-28 lead before finishing the half ahead by eight, never to look back as their foes failed to recover.
They'd go on to lead by as many as 14, 83-69, approaching the final six minutes of the bout, and then finished strongly behind the same guys that orchestrated the decisive rally to complete the revenge game.
Carter Coleman led Chinese Taipei with 23 points and 15 rebounds plus 4 steals and 2 blocks in a triumphant conclusion to his maiden stint for a program that's been aggressively finding talent in recent years.
Xing Yu-Sheng scattered 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Liu Ting-Kuan produced 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists plus 2 steals and 3 blocks, while Weng Tz-Jie added 11 as the tandem led the bench support.
It was this quartet that put together the searing scoring spree to wipe out the 38-26 lead erected by their Southeast Asian counterparts, with Xing himself scoring 7 in it, including the triple that triggered the attack.
This is now the second time in the biennial youth contest's last three editions that Chinese Taipei finished at 7th, and is an improvement from their 2024 campaign in Jordan where they ended up at 12th among 16 teams.
Chog Moral, on the other hand, finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds for the Philippines, who ended their tournament with three consecutive losses and settled for 8th place with a 3-4 record.
Ethan Aguas, who sank the game-winning shot in their 89-88 escape during the Group Phase, had 15 points and 7 rebounds. Bruce Tubongbanua added 10 points for Gilas Youth in a bitter end to their run in this city.
The Filipino dribblers, though, tried to fight back late and got to within nine twice behind Moral, but it was the closest they could get as Coleman and Liu joined hands to prevent any sort of retaliation to materialize.
The Classification Round is crucial for the participating teams not only for their final rankings in this tournament, but also to determine the Sub-Zone berths in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup two years from now.
FIBA