Gilas Youth falls to Japan, gets one more shot at seventh place

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

MANILA, Philippines–Gilas Pilipinas Youth mens’ team suffered another defeat in the 2026 Fiba U18 Asia Cup in India, falling to Japan, 80-75, in the classification games Saturday at Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium in India.

Fresh off their quarterfinal elimination at the hands of China, 117-103, on Friday, the Filipinos absorbed their second straight loss just 24 hours later.

Much like their loss to the Chinese, the Philippines never took control against Japan in another wire-to-wire defeat.

Chog Moral remained the silver lining for Gilas Youth with 21 points after scoring 26 against China. Patrick Pasinos and Aidan Dayco-Green added 10 points each.

Kenichiro Benedict top-scored for Japan with 20 points while Kaito Nakamura had 13. Cayman Tsuneoka finished just one rebound shy of a double-double with 15 points and 19 boards.

The road isn’t quite over for Gilas Youth in the U18 tournament.

The Philippines will have one last shot at finishing at least seventh when it takes on Chinese Taipei on Sunday.

Chinese Taipei also lost Saturday, falling to Iran, 105-84, behind Mani Ghasemari’s 26 points.