AHMEDABAD (India) - New Zealand and Bahrain began their FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 campaigns by hacking out tough wins to close out the opening gameday on Thursday night at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium.
The Junior Tall Blacks encountered a tough stand from Syria all game long before coming away with the 67-58 victory, as the Gulf contenders escaped Lebanon by way of a 74-68 decision in the final bout of the day.
Nonetheless, those challenging outings should prepare the two teams ahead of their matchup this Saturday, August 15, at 16:30 local time, in which they will be battling for the provisional lead in Group B.
It will be their second-ever meeting in this tournament after 2018 in Thailand, where New Zealand - then with a team that featured Sam Mennenga and Flynn Cameron - came away with the decisive 92-64 victory.
Jackson Ball led the 2024 runners-up with 19 points, while Arana Robertson came through with 11 as the tandem steadied the ship in the fourth quarter after their West Asian foes threatened from down 60-45.
Ball sank the technical free throw to push their lead back to nine. Then came Robertson with a crucial floater before going 2-for-2 from the line for the 67-56 lead with about 11 seconds left, all but sealing the deal.
Aubrey Chunga also had 11 points and 9 rebounds while Hoani Ifopo-Togia added 10 points for New Zealand, who managed to pull off the win despite making just 4 triples and losing the rebounding battle, 49-51.
Taym Aldassouki led Syria with 15 points in the gallant stand. Majak Majak added 11 points and 7 rebounds for a team that had all but one of the 10 players fielded contribute at least a point in the close loss.
Meanwhile, Bahrain drew solid performances from a bevy of players to beat the Cedars, with Hassan Abdulkadir leading the way with 19 points and 14 rebounds plus 4 steals and 3 blocks for an efficiency of 31.
Mahdi Habib also tallied 19 points alongside 5 rebounds and 8 assists, as he and Abdulkadir co-led their team's charge toward a 22-11 lead to put them ahead all the way, even leading by as many as 21, 68-47.
But what was supposed to be a comfortable win became a difficult one after the Lebanese roared back and cut the deficit to a single digit multiple times late behind big threes from Jay Khalil and Charbel El Herera.
Luckily for them, Somto Patrick was there to keep Lebanon at bay. He provided the apt responses to the other team's buckets, including the split for the eventual final count with 7.7 seconds left to play.
Somto finished with a double-double of his own with 14 points and 18 rebounds, while Rayan Mujtaba and Adel Mohamed added 10 points apiece for Bahrain.
Wasted by the loss was the effort of Johnny Sawma, who carried Lebanon with 27 points. Jeffry Khairallah made 14 points off the bench while El Herera tallied a rare triple-double with 12 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists.
FIBA