AHMEDABAD (India) - Chinese Taipei refused to become a mere footnote again, completing a 109-99 come-from-behind victory over Bahrain on Thursday to reach the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 Quarter-Finals.
The East Asian side erased an 84-91 deficit with 6:37 to go before putting together a strong finish, duly applying the harsh lessons they learned from their heartbreaking loss to the Philippines on opening day.
It could be recalled that they came all the way back from 27 down and even took the lead in the final seconds, only for Ethan Aguas to steal their thunder with a difficult shot from the baseline to win it for Gilas Youth.
But this time, they made sure not to suffer the same fate, eventually punching their ticket to the 'Magic Eight' set tomorrow where they will be taking on Korea, Group D's top seed, in a meeting between EABA rivals.
Liu Ting-Kuan starred in the victory with a monster performance of 33 points on 12-of-24 shooting from the floor, alongside 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 of their 14 steals, and 2 blocks, netting an efficiency of 38.
Carter Coleman finished with 23 points, with Xing Yu-Sheng coming through with a full line of 22 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and a block, as the troika combined for 78 of the team's total output.
Xing himself was critical in the rally, knocking down one of his six triples of the contest to trigger a 9-0 run - in which Huang Shao-En and Huang Jia-Han helped out - to take the lead for good at 93-91 with 4:10 left.
Their Gulf counterparts cut the gap to just a point not long after but it proved to be their last hurrah. Coleman went perfect from the line, Xing hit another trey, before Liu split his shots for a 99-92 lead with 2:13 to spare.
Chinese Taipei would never face any major threat, and went on to advance to the Quarter-Finals for the first time since 2022, where they ultimately finished at seventh by beating Qatar in the Classification Round.
Jia-Han supplied 15 points, while Shao-En added 12 as a total of five players finished in twin digits in the win.
Bahrain, on the other hand, were led by Hassan Abdulkadir with 36 points and 18 rebounds in the frustrating loss, in which they truly missed the services of the bruising big man inside the final 3:10, leading to the meltdown.
Abdulkadir incurred his fifth and final foul of the bout, which led to the aforementioned free throws for Coleman that did contribute to the opposition's breakaway, as they struggled to adapt to his premature exit.
Somto Patrick had 21 points and 17 rebounds. Mahdi Habib made 16 points and 8 assists while Rayan Mujtaba added 14 points for the GBA champions, who last reached the Quarter-Finals in 2018 in Thailand.
The game found its way to FIBA U18 Asia Cup record books as well, as the two teams' total points of 208 is now the seventh-most points scored in a single game, according to available statistical records.
FIBA