Yesaya Alessandro Michael breaks down after an emotional win for Indonesia
NONTHABURI (FIBA U18 Asian Championship 2018) - Yesaya Alessandro Michael broke into tears after the game ended. It might have seemed weird in the context that Indonesia had just beaten Kazakhstan, but it’s hard to not have an emotional release after a game like that.
Up until the very end of the third quarter, Indonesia held trailed for most of the game aside from a slight blip at the start of the second interval. Other than that, they spent time clawing their way back into the game every time Kazakhstan built a sizable lead.
A buzzer-beating three by Yesaya Alessandro Michael had tied the game at the end of the first quarter, but Merey Uapov helped push the lead out for Kazakhstan with a 10-2 run. It was Alessandro who again led the charge for Indonesia to make a comeback, igniting an 8-0 run to come within one point with seconds to go in the first half.
Arsentiy Kushniruk then drilled a buzzer-beating three of his own at halftime, once again piercing the morale of the Indonesia team.
With less than two minutes in the third quarter, Indonesia were down by 8 points. They desperately needed another boost and their floor general delivered. Alessandro drove right into the paint for a nifty left handed floater which were the first two points of 9-0 run that closed the third quarter and gave Indonesia the lead for good.
Alessandro didn’t stop there. Now that they had the lead – now that they could see the light at the end of the tunnel – Indonesia weren’t going to give Kazakhstan another chance to get back into the game. The 5’10” point guard poured in 10 of his 26 points in the final quarter, blowing open the lead for Indonesia before finishing the game with an emotional victory.
After two big losses to Japan and Iran and this up-and-down game against Kazakhstan, you can feel and see why Yesaya Alessandro Michael broke down after being able to give his team a chance at a playoff game towards the Quarterfinals.
Indonesia finishes the Group Phase at 3rd place in Group A and will be facing the 2nd placed team in Group B to qualify for the Quarterfinals tomorrow.
