Day 4 Round-Up: FIBA Asia U16 Championship

JOHOR BAHRU (FIBA Asia U16 Championship) - Philippines showed better composure in handling the end-game pressure situation and beat Syria 71-57 to remain as one of the four teams to score four successive wins in the Championship.

The Filipino win came in Group II of the Quarterfinal Round as did Iran’s facile 70-51 victory over fellow West Asian team Jordan.

In the all-East Asian Group I fare, China carried too many guns to overpower Chinese Taipei 108-61 and Korea handed a similar defeat to Japan by a 93-56 score-line.

Only two of these unbeaten foursome will retain the tag by this tomorrow with Iran playing Philippines and Korea taking on China on Monday.

Korea played true to form and defeated Japan 93-56.

Jonghun Lee played only a little more than four minutes – a mere seven seconds in the fourth quarter -- in the second half, but played the entire duration of the first to score his game-high 21 points and lead the Korean charge.

Yuto Aratani was the only Japanese with a double-digit score with his 11 points.

Chinese juggernaut rolls on

For China, it was a matter of going through the motions after establishing an unsurpassable lead early in the game.

Guo Ailun continued to torment his opponents returning a 21-point team-high score.

A 14-0 run in the latter part of the first quarter was sufficient for China to exert their control on the proceedings and after that it was a matter of time, and the margin of victory.

Wang Jen-chieh’s game-high 25 points was the only consolation for Chinese Taipei.

No other Taipei player crossed double-digits as against five of the Chinese scoring in double-digits in a line-up where everybody scored.

Filipino final burst

An 11-0 run helped Philippines take the game away from Syria.

Kiefer Ravena scored five, Roldan Sara sank a three-pointer and Jeron Teng scored in the paint following it up converting a free-throw as Philippines transformed a 52-53 deficit into a 63-53 lead in the closing moments of the fourth quarter.

Aghyad Rahal’s ejection for five personal fouls during this Philippines’ run, having shared the Syrian responsibility dampened his side’s cause.

Rahal had scored 14 points till then to support Muhammad Otabachi’s game-high 20 points.

Teng was the leading scorer for Philippines with 16 points and Sara chipped in with 14. Ravena scored 11, seven of them in the fourth quarter.

Iran down Jordan

Iran had no such trouble, seizing control early in the game.

Soheil Yousefi effected four steals and scored six points as Iran took charge in the first quarter. Amir Sedighi scored nine as Iran closed the first ten minutes 20-12 ahead. A position from where they never looked back.

Yousefi ended up with 17 points, five assists and seven steals. Sedighi accounted for a game-high double-double collecting 15 rebounds to go with his 20 points.

Jordan turned the ball over ten times against two steals as against Iran’s seven turn overs but with eight steals in the first quarter. That proved decisive in the end.

Malek Kanaan also had as many points as Sedighi, but only to keep the Jordan flag flying.

Last gasp win for Kuwait, Thailand

Thailand outscored India by a whopping 16-2 for their first win in the Championship in Group III. Thailand won 55-52

Kuwait were as inspired in the fourth quarter in beating Kazakhstan 66-63. That came in Group IV.

Bahrain overcame initial sluggishness to beat Singapore 64-58 in Group III and Malaysia opened their Group IV engagements providing some succor for the home crowd with an 84-77 win over Saudi Arabia.

Scores

Group I

China 108 (Guo Ailun 21, Zhu Xuhang 18, Ju Mingxin 13, Zhai Xiaochuan 12, Xu Tao 12) bt Chinese Taipei 61 (Wang Jen-chieh 25). Quarterwise Scores: 34-11, 60-25, 81-44.

Korea 93 (Jonghyun Lee 21, Seungwook Choi 16, Dongyeop Lee 14, Changjin Choi 13, Hyosub Shin 12, Huiwon Han 10) bt Japan 56 (Yuto Aratani 11). Quarterwise Scores: 19-11, 47-25, 66-37.

Group II

Iran 70 (Amir Sedighi 20, Soheil Yousefi 17, Mohammad Ojaghi 13, Mir Fattahi 12) bt Jordan 51 (Malek Kanaan 20, Yazan Altaweel 11). Quarterwise Scores: 20-12, 44-21, 62-41.

Philippines 71 (Jeron Teng 16, Roldan Sara 14, Kiefer Ravena 11, Kevin Ferrer 10) bt Syria 57 (Muhammad Otabachi 20, Aghyad Rahal 14). Quarterwise Scores: 16-16, 29-30, 45-44.

Group III

Thailand 55 (Sarun Buranachan 18, Udomsak Rattanpansri 16) bt India 52 (Ankit Panigrahi 21). Quarterwise Scores: 10-16, 34-24, 44-31.

Bahrain 64 (Ali Ahmed Jamal 30) bt Singapore 58 (Delvin Goh 15, Larry Liew 15, Remus Low 11). Quarterwise Scores: 15-20, 39-33, 52-43.

Group IV

Malaysia 84 (Loh Shee Wong 27, Tan Hui Kee 16) bt Saudi Arabia 77 (Nassir Abo Jalas 31, Ahmed Almukhtar 19, Jehad Alrowedhan 15). Quarterwise Scores: 21-20, 37-25, 67-53.

Kuwait 66 (Hussain Shuaib 25, Abdulrahman Alshammari 17) bt Kazakhstan 63 (Alexander Zhigulin 23, Alymzhan Maxutov 16). Quarterwise Scores: 22-16, 39-34, 50-45.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia