AHMEDABAD (India) - New Zealand booked a direct flight to the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 Quarter-Finals by showing Lebanon the door, 113-62, on Monday night at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium.
Despite a slight delay in the match, the Junior Tall Blacks were hardly affected, jumping to a 14-2 start which proved to be enough to set up the rout - and eventually notch their third win in as many games.
They sealed the top spot in Group B, and have become the second team to reach the Quarter-Finals after Oceania neighbors Australia, who booked their spot following a 110-58 win over Chinese Taipei earlier.
Seven of the 10 players utilized by head coach Josiah Maama finished in double figures in the wire-to-wire victory, headed by Jackson Ball with 19 points on a 50-percent clip from the field, highlighted by 3 triples.
Kingston Kailahi-Aso and Hunter Savill punched in 14 points apiece. Hoana Ifopo-Togia supplied 12 points, with Arana Robertson doing a bit of everything as he scattered 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Aubrey Chunga and Joshua Kelly chipped in 10 points apiece and combined for 9 rebounds for the Kiwis, who shot 59.7-percent from the field thanks to their 36 assists in the win where they also collected 47 boards.
Lebanon, on the other hand, were led by Johnny Sawma with 21 points on 20 shots in the loss, which sent them packing as the WABA Qualifiers champions finished their campaign with a harrowing 0-3 record.
And their premature exit has enabled Syria and Bahrain to qualify for the Qualification to Quarter-Finals.
Bahrain clinched the no. 2 spot in Group B by beating Syria, 92-68, to close out the gameday, leaning on a big third quarter to burst the bubble of their WABA counterparts, who beat the Lebanese the other night.
Mahdi Habib and Rayan Mujtaba scored off layups, Hassan Abdulkadir slammed it home, and Somto Patrick converted from close range, putting together an 8-0 run to widen their lead to 53-41 in the said period.
They'd lead by double digits the rest of the way, with the spread going as wide as 31 points, 90-59, behind Somto with about four minutes remaining in the game, as the Syrians simply just couldn't keep up.
Somto led Bahrain with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Abdulkadir tallied a double-double of his own with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Mujtaba provided 17 points and 5 rebounds while Ali Ferdousi added 10 points.
Syria were led by Majak Majak with 14 points in the loss to finish the Group Phase with a 1-2 card.
FIBA