Bahrain pulls off stunner to qualify for Quarter-Finals, beats Chinese Taipei 76-65
NONTHABURI (FIBA U18 Asian Championship 2018) – Bahrain pulls off a stunner by beating ChineseTaipei 76-65 to be the only team from the third pot to advance to the Quarter-Finals.
The signs of an upset could be seen early in the game when Bahrain jumped out to a 26-16 lead to finish the first quarter. Stud guards Baqer Ali and Mustafa Rashed were already in double-digits not long into the second quarter which would set the tone for the entire game.
Chinese Taipei made rally to get their biggest lead of the game of 6 points just before the end of the half and fans were ready for a down to the wire.
No one was anticipating Chinese Taipei to flatline in the third quarter but after scoring just their 3rd point of the second half with six minutes to go, they just couldn’t seem to put the ball through the hoop no matter how hard they tried. Chinese Taipei fired blanks for the rest of the entire third quarter as well as the first two minutes of the fourth. It was until Yan Ting Lin made a lay up at the 8:00 minute mark before the score for Chinese Taipei changed again but the damage was done. The 18-point deficit that Bahrain had built was too much to overcome even for the comeback kings.
Chinese Taipei tried hard to claw their way back, but were never able to come closer than 10 points. A breakaway dunk by Muzamil Hamoda with 1:22 left in the game was the final knockout blow.
Bahrain got fantastic contribution from all around the roster whether is was Hamoda who has 14 points and 13 rebounds or the aforementioned duo of Ali and Rashed who had 23 points apiece. Karim Aboukuora didn’t contribute much to the scoring total but was a monster on the boards with a tournament-high 19 rebounds.
At only 32.1% from the field, Chinese Taipei just ran into one of those bad shooting days. Their leading scorer Yan Ting Lin was still able to put up 19 points, but it was enough to evade the outcome.
Bahrain’s victory advances them to the Quarterfinals to play the Philippines where they will need to conjure another effort like in this game for a chance at a Cinderella run to the Semifinals.
FIBA
