Chinese Taipei blew a huge 26-point lead late in the fourth but still managed to display poise and composure down the stretch to reign victorious over Batang Gilas Pilipinas, 88-74, early Saturday morning (Philippine time) in the opening festivities of the FIBA Asia U-18 Championship 2016 in Tehran, Iran.
Both teams displayed scoring runs in the game’s curtain-raiser. From a 9-5 deficit, Batang Gilas snatched the lead after five straight points, 10-9, behind Jonas Tibayan and Jolo Mendoza. But, Chinese Taipei answered back with seven straight points from Sheng-Ju Ting and Kuei-Yu Chou to take the driver’s seat, 16-10, late in the frame. From there, Philippines and Chinese Taipei traded baskets, and the Taiwanese saw themselves up by a single point, 19-18, as the first ten minutes ended.
It was a Chinese Taipei show in the following frame as they stepped on the gas and left Batang Gilas in the dust, displaying dominance on both ends of the floor by using their athleticism and scoring prowess to bury Gilas by twenty, 49-29, to wrap up the first half. The Taiwanese’ merciless shooting allowed them to hit 30 points as a team in the quarter alone, while Gilas only added eleven to their output behind Mendoza, Theo Flores, John Bahio, Kemark Carino, and John Gallego.
Batang Gilas had a good start in the third canto, garnering eight points from Tibayan, Bahio, and Fran Yu to trim the deficit to 18, 55-37, with less than eight minutes left. However, Chinese Taipei’s rhythm was too much for the Filipinos to handle, as they established the game’s widest margin at 26, 70-44, with 19 ticks left behind the hot shooting from Ting, Chia-Kang Li, Chen-Ya Chang, Ya-Hsuan Hsieh, and Yu-Wei Chen. The Taiwanese concluded the quarter up 70-45.
The fourth quarter saw Batang Gilas give their counterparts a huge scare, as they crawled their way back from a huge 74-48 lag to close by twelve, 83-71, with 3:07 remaining. But, Chinese-Taipei proved to be a tough nut to crack, dousing cold water to Batang Gilas after Kuo-Hao Kao took over and scored five straight points to send his team up by 15, 87-71. Gallego sank a jumper, but Ting’s split freebies shut the door for a Philippines comeback and sealed the victory for Chinese-Taipei, 88-74.
Through their balanced offensive output, four Chinese Taipei players scored in double figures, with Kao and Ting leading the charge with 16 points apiece. Hsieh had 12 markers, while Chou added 10. Chinese Taipei shot excellently from the field as they sank half of their shots (31/62), which can be attributed to the 16 team assists they had.
Tibayan was the lone Batang Gilas to score in double digits as he led the team with 15 points. Gallego and Rendell Lee backed him up 9 each. Philippines shot poorly all throughout, hitting only 30 of their 77 shots (38.9 percent). However, they won the battle for the boards, hauling down 43 rebounds compared to Chinese Taipei’s 39.
Chinese-Taipei will go for their second straight win tonight versus Thailand at 11:30 PM, while Batang Gilas will try to bounce back against Iraq also tonight at 7:30.
The Scores:
Chinese-Taipei (88) – Kao 16, Ting 16, Hsieh 12, Chou 10, Tseng 9, Chang 6, Li 6, Chen 5, Jian 5, Wu 1, Huang 0.
Philippines (74) – Tibayan 15, Lee 9, Gallego 9, Bahio 8, Mendoza 7, Yu 7, Sinclair 6, Mamuyac 3, Flores 3, Madrigal 3, Carino 2, Pagsanjan 2.
Quarterscores: 19-18, 49-29, 70-45, 88-74.
