Gilas Youth falls to China, ends Fiba U18 Asia Cup run in quarters

Gilas Pilipinas during a game vs China in the 2026 Fiba U18 Asia Cup. –FIBA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines— Gilas Pilipinas Youth team’s Fiba U18 Asia Cup run came to a halt in the quarterfinals after falling to China, 117-103, on Friday at Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium in India.

The Philippines ended its continental campaign with a 3-2 record, picking up wins over Thailand and Chinese Taipei in the group stage and over Syria in the qualification round.

The Gilas Youth’s only other loss came at the hands of Australia.

Against the Chinese, the Filipinos fell behind early with a 33-20 deficit and couldn’t get their rhythm going in the wire-to-wire loss.

Gilas Pilipinas Youth’s Chog Moral during a game vs China in the 2026 Fiba U18 Asia Cup. –FIBA PHOTO

Chog Moral led Gilas with 26 points, while Luke Atacador added 14. Ethan Aguas and JB Cagurungan scored 12 points each.

Zichao Wang led China with 25 points, while Yuxiu Chen had 23 points and six assists. Xuan Hao and Yizhaojie Zhang added 16 points each in the win.

China’s win also gave the country the first ticket to the Fiba U19 Basketball World Cup 2027 in Pardubice, Czechia.