Gilas Pilipinas Boys will compete for third place in the 2026 B.League Under-16 Challenge Cup after finishing with a 2-1 record in the pool stage at Sumida City Gymnasium in Tokyo.

The Filipinos placed second in Group A after opening their campaign with a 91-81 victory over Chiba on Tuesday. They then suffered a 73-66 loss to Ryukyu before closing out pool play with a dominant 105-79 rout of Tachikawa on Wednesday.

Gilas will face Fukuoka in the battle for third on Thursday.

La Salle Green Hills standout Sam Esomchi has been the team’s top performer, averaging 19.3 points, 14.0 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks through three games.

Esomchi starred in the win over Chiba with 23 points, 19 rebounds, and two blocks, while Dwayne Madrigal and Lawrence Copia chipped in 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Against Ryukyu, however, Gilas trailed for all but the opening 10 seconds and fell behind by as many as 13 points before halftime.

Esomchi and Brielle Salazar sparked a second-half rally, but the Filipinos were unable to overcome the hot shooting of Eiji Oshiro, who scored 36 points, and Yuito Kawamitsu, who added 26.

Gilas responded with a balanced offensive performance against the Dice, with six players finishing in double figures.

Copia led the way with 19 points, followed by Zap Ong with 17, Jayson Mercado with 15, Josh Saga with 14, while Esomchi and Salazar contributed 12 points each.

FEU-Diliman captured the tournament championship in last year’s edition.

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National University survived a late scare from the Malaysia Select Team, escaping with an 81-78 victory to open its 2026 BLIA Cup campaign on Wednesday at Kaohsiung Arena in Taiwan.

The Lady Bulldogs, who finished runners-up in last year’s tournament after falling to Japan Women’s College of Physical Education in the final, leaned on clutch free throws from Tin Cayabyab and a game-saving defensive play by Zaydhen Rosano to secure the win.

NU appeared to be in complete control after building a 73-60 lead with seven minutes remaining and extending it to 79-72 with 1:15 left.

Malaysia, however, mounted a furious rally. Khalidah Kamaludin knocked down a three-pointer with 47.7 seconds remaining to trim the deficit to 79-76 before a NU turnover led to a Tan Sin Jie layup that cut the lead to just one, 79-78, with 21.6 seconds left.

Cayabyab then calmly sank two free throws after drawing a foul from Kamaludin, restoring NU’s three-point cushion at 81-78.

Following a timeout, Rosano came up with the defensive play of the game, anticipating and stealing Tan Sin Jie’s inbound pass before dribbling out the remaining time to preserve the Lady Bulldogs’ opening-day victory.

Cielo Pagdulagan paced NU with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field.

Rosano added 15 points, four rebounds, two assists, and three steals, while Cayabyab finished with 16 points on a perfect 6-of-6 clip from the free-throw line to go along with six rebounds.

Ann Pingol chipped in nine points and eight rebounds.

Tan Sin Jie led the Malaysia Select Team with 16 points.

NU will face National Taiwan Normal University on Thursday.

The top two teams in each pool will advance to the crossover semifinals.

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It’s becoming too obvious that Darius Days’ stint with TNT is coming to an end.

Coach Chot Reyes himself revealed that he and his staff will decide on their import situation ‘pretty soon’ after the former LSU Tiger submitted another underwhelming outing in their eventual win over Converge on Tuesday.

“To be very honest, we have to make a decision on that pretty soon,” said the straightforward mentor after their 110-107 win at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, which laid their two-game skid to rest in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup.

Since posting back-to-back 20-point showings in their first two games of the tilt against Macau and Titan Ultra, Days’ scoring dropped significantly. He scored just 10 points in their next pair of outings, including versus the FiberXers.

Taking into account their previous meeting against Terrafirma, the 26-year-old forward has shot a combined 7-of-3 from the floor. And his woeful shooting has negatively impacted the defending conference champions, Reyes admitted.

It doesn’t help, either, that he has seemingly already booked his next destination.

(C) Illawarra Hawks

Just hours before TNT’s matchup with Converge, the Illawarra Hawks of Australia’s National Basketball League announced on their official social media channels that they were bringing Days back for the 2026-27 season.

Still, he suited up and played against the FiberXers, although he was on the bench during the last two minutes of the tightly-contested bout. He wasn’t brought back until the last 9.1 seconds, when he was part of the five that closed it out.

Days even tried to help Rey Nambatac create some space by setting up a pick near center court, but the lefty guard opted not to use it, instead attacking Alec Stockton before rising for the game-winning trey to beat the buzzer.

Asked about switching imports, Reyes even joked with the press.

“Panalo kami, ba’t kami magpapalit?” he said with a smile

Turning serious, the champion bench tactician admitted that the team is indeed considering it, before adding that it’s no longer the same Days they signed up a couple of years ago for the same conference.

“That’s still up in the air. We’re definitely considering it. But Darius is not the Darius Days that we had a couple of years back. He’s completely out of shape, overweight, and I think it shows in his game,” he lamented.

“And obviously, it’s affecting the game of the locals.”

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