ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) – New Zealand coasted to an 85-54 victory over the Philippines to clinch the remaining outright ticket to the FIBA U16 Asia Cup 2025 Quarter-Finals, Tuesday at the Buyant Ukhaa Sport Complex.
The Junior Tall Blacks zoomed to a 17-5 start and held their counterparts to just a single-digit output until the 6:33-mark of the second frame, as they completely had their way the rest of the match.
Hardly challenged, the charges of Coach Ben Sheat went on to finish as the no. 1 team in Group B with a perfect 3-0 card, enabling themselves to advance to the last eight directly, joining Australia, China, and Japan.
Their next opponents will be the winner between Group B’s second-ranked team in Iran and the no. 3 finisher in Group C, to be fought by hosts Mongolia and Malaysia later at 19:00 local time at the MBank Arena.
Liam Keogh top-scored for New Zealand with 17 points and 7 assists. Lawson Pryor supplied 15 points and 6 rebounds as the tandem played key roles in their aforementioned start into the eventual blowout.
Marco Sula made 11 points while Lincoln Wilson tallied 10 points and 14 rebounds for his first double-double. Noah Duncan also came through with 10 as a total of five players finished in double figures for the NZ boys.
That solid balanced attack was something that Gilas Youth could only hope to emulate as Jhustin Hallare and Jhello Lumague were the team’s only sources of offense with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
The Philippines finished third in the group with a 1-2 record, and will face the second-best team of Group A in Bahrain in the Qualification to Quarter-Finals on September 4 at the MBank Arena.
*This article will be updated.