The Philippines forced Chinese Taipei to miss six of 13 attempts in the final minutes to pull off a 72-67 triumph on Friday in the classification playoffs of the 2022 FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship at Azadi Basketball Hall in Tehran, Iran.
The Taiwanese cagers misfired with their attempts right after Fil-Australian cager Mason Amos sank a turnaround shot with 2:17 left.
The basket of the 6’7” Amos handed the Filipinos a 15-point cushion going into the last 2:17 of their encounter.
Amos went on to finish with 21 points and six boards for the Filipinos, who earned a slot to the playoffs for fifth and sixth places.
The winner of the match between host Iran and Qatar will collide with the Filipinos on Sunday.
Earl Abadam and Jared Bahay chipped in 14 points for the Filipinos.
Abadam’s triple with 3:16 left allowed the Filipinos to grab a 70-57 spread with 3:16 to go.
Te Chi Hsu led the Taiwanese side with 17 points.
Lebanon, led by Bryan Mansour, eased out the Philippines, 99-83, in the quarterfinals and is set to battle Japan for a seat in the finals.