Gilas Pilipinas Youth bounced back from their quarterfinals loss with a 72-67 win over Chinese-Taipei in the classification phase of the FIBA U18 Asian Championships 2022 in Iran, Friday afternoon.

Mason Amos continued to lead the way with 21 points on 60 percent shooting. He also had six rebounds and three assists. Earl Abadam and Jared Bahay backed him up with 14 points apiece. Gagate added 14 rebounds to go along with eight points.

After falling behind by seven points in the first quarter, the Philippines took care of business in the second quarter. They scored 23 points and limited Chinese-Taipei to just eight points during that stretch. 

Amos and Abadam combined for eight points in a 10-0 Gilas run to give the team a 26-21 lead midway through the second quarter. Gilas continued to play well, extending the lead to eight points heading to the halftime break.

Gilas took full control of the game in the second half. They broke the game wide open in the third period, taking a 20-point lead after four straight points from Bahay and a turnaround jumper from Gagate. The Philippines kept the double-digit lead for most of the final period, fending off the final rally by Chinese-Taipei.

Gilas moves forward to the battle for fifth against Iran at 5:00 PM on August 28.