THE NUMBERS

Tsinghua 85, UP 81 (24-19, 15-26, 23-17, 23-19).

The lead changed hands 26 times, the second-most in AUBL history behind the 37 set in SJTU's win over PKU earlier that afternoon, and neither team led by more than 7. Tsinghua made 15 threes on 43 attempts (34.9%), tying the all-time AUBL record and breaking the AUBL26 mark of 12 — and nearly two-thirds of their shots (43/67, 64.2%) came from deep, the highest share in any game at AUBL26.

THU won everywhere the game moved fast — 11-3 on the break, 11-2 in points off turnovers, and 18 of 24 from the line compared to UP's 9 of 12 — while committing just 7 turnovers to UP's 10. UP won everything inside, taking the paint 38-20, the boards 49-40 with a 16-10 edge on the offensive glass, and second-chance points 11-5. But UP finished with 1 steal, the fewest by any team in an AUBL game and far below the 7.5 they averaged in the group stage.

Tsinghua (清华大学)

• Points: 26 — Shi Kui (石奎), Player of the Game
• Rebounds: 7 — Xi Taicheng (隰泰诚)
• Assists: 6 — Shi Kui (石奎)

University of the Philippines

• Points: 19 — Rey-Adrian Remogat
• Rebounds: 12 — Francis Pre, 18-12 double-double
• Assists: 5 — Rey-Adrian Remogat

GAME RECAP

Shi Kui (石奎) scored 11 of his 26 points in the 4th quarter, and Tsinghua beat UP 85-81 on Thursday night to close the quarterfinals and set up an all-CUBAL semifinal with SJTU.

Tsinghua took the lead for good with just over five minutes to play, but UP never gave up. Rey-Adrian Remogat hit a 3-pointer with 2:48 remaining to cut it to 81-77, followed by Gani Stevens' second-chance basket making it 83-81 with 20 seconds remaining. Both times Shi Kui answered from the line — four free throws in the final two minutes, part of an 8-of-9 night at the stripe. Remogat's 3-pointer to tie missed with 12 seconds left.

The game flipped all night, with the teams trading the lead 26 times. Tsinghua took the 1st quarter 24-19 behind 9 points from Yu Haotian (于浩天) off the bench. UP flipped it with a 26-15 second to lead 45-39 at the half and Tsinghua answered with a 23-17 third - drawing it level 62-62 at the end of the third.

The threes came from everywhere: seven different Tsinghua players made one, with Xu Xitong (徐熙桐) hitting three and Yu Haotian finishing 3-of-5 from deep on his way to 15.

Remogat scored 19 and Francis Pre had 18 points and 12 rebounds, his second double-double of the tournament, for UP, whose first AUBL season comes to an end.

LOOKING AHEAD

The semifinals are set. Tsinghua meet SJTU in an all-CUBAL matchup. SJTU have never beaten Tsinghua in school history, in CUBAL or AUBL. NCCU remains unbeaten in AUBL and face Waseda, a team known for breaking records with Matsumoto breaking 4 AUBL records across 2 games (All-time Points x 2, Free Throws Made, Threes Made).