Gilas Pilipinas Youth Opens FIBA U16 Asia Cup with Loss to Chinese Taipei

Gilas Pilipinas Youth suffered a 106-82 defeat to Chinese Taipei in the opening game of the FIBA U16 Asia Cup held in Mongolia on Sunday. The Philippine squad started strong with Prince Cariño scoring the first basket to give the team an early 2-0 lead. However, Chinese Taipei quickly gained control, maintaining dominance for the remainder of the game. The Taiwanese team expanded their lead to as much as 27 points, reaching 81-54 after a three-pointer from Shu-Wei Lu with just over two minutes left in the third quarter.

Despite outscoring Chinese Taipei 20-19 in the fourth quarter, the Gilas team was unable to close the gap, entering the final period trailing 87-62. Leading the charge for Chinese Taipei was I-Le Wang, who contributed 24 points, while Cheng-Che Hsiao added 13 points to the tally.

For the Philippines, Prince Cariño was the top performer, recording 23 points and six rebounds. Jeremiah Antolin Jr. also provided support with 11 points. Gilas Pilipinas Youth is set to play their next game against Indonesia on Monday.