Taiwanese bury Gilas Youth by 24

Gilas Pilipinas Youth’s road to the semifinal of the FIBA U16 Asia Cup took a wrong turn after suffering a 82-106 loss to Chinese Taipei at the Buyant Ukhaa Sport Complex in Ulaanbaatar on Sunday.

The Philippines’ suffered its first loss in the tournament under head coach LA Tenorio, who was appointed only last November.

Committing 35 turnovers became one of Gilas Youth’s biggest flaws in the game as the Taiwanese scored 36 easy points on top of the 14 triples they made.

A Huang Chia-Lin layup with 6:05 left in the second quarter capped a 16-5 run for Chinese Taipei and established a 44-28 lead.

Wang I-Le's two free throws in the third quarter with 1:46 left in the clock gave the Taiwanese their biggest lead of the game, 84-54.

Wang led Chinese Taipei with 24 points, five rebounds and three steals while Cheng-Che Hsiao added 13 points.

Prince Cariño led Gilas Youth with 23 points, six rebounds and one assist in a losing effort.

The Philippines is currently facing Indonesia at press time in the hopes of keeping its campaign afloat.

After the Indonesians, Gilas Youth will face New Zealand on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.(Manila time).

Gilas Youth need at least a win to enter the knockout stages.

But it will be a long road as they also need to win in the playoff round and the quarterfinal to book a spot in the 2026 FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey.

Gilas Youth hope to emulate the fourth-place finish they achieved in the 2023 Asia Cup in Doha where they are bannered by basketball prodigy Kieffer Alas, who is currently playing in the United States.