FIBA Asia U16 Championship: Iran, China remain unbeaten

JOHOR BAHRU (FIBA Asia U16 Championship) - Iran and China remained as the only two unbeaten teams in the Championship extending their winning spree in the Championship to five games in a row on Day Five of the inaugural FIBA Asia U16 Championship on Monday.

Iran closed the proceedings for the day with a keenly contested 76-70 win over Philippines in Group II of the Quarterfinal Round.

In another Group II game – an all West Asian affair – Jordan extended their supremacy over Syria with a clinical 77-70 win.

Jordan take on Philippines and Syria clash with Iran on the morrow.

China extended their winning spree, this time leaving even a well-equipped outfit like Korea inadequate.

China won 121-51 and took a firm step towards a place in the semifinal, the penultimate step for a berth in the 2010 FIBA World U17 Championship.

Chinese Taipei, later, managed to scrape past Japan 75-67 in the other game in the all-East Asian Group I to keep their hopes of a semifinal berth alive.

Taipei need to beat Korea on the morrow, considering that Japan’s task of beating China looks Herculean.

Filipino scare for Iran

Philippines caught their much taller Iranian opponents unaware in the opening moments and surged ahead in the first quarter.

But a switch in defense and the longer fielding of the nippy Mohammed Ojaghi gave Iran the much needed impetus.

Mir Fattahi and Soheil Yosefi scored six each and Ojaghi five as Iran outscored their rivals 17-2 to seemingly take control of the game. Iran led 38-26 going into the changing rooms.

Only to see Philippines rebound with vigour.

Kiefer Ravena’s 15-point blitz in the third quarter propelled Philippines to bring the score to striking distance. And when Ravena’s blitzing three-pointer leveled the scores for Philippines at 60 in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, the game alive.

Neither gave any quarter nor sought any thereafter and Iran’s overall superiority under the board and a much deeper bench kept the West Asian team unbeaten.

Clinical Jordan

Jordan had beaten Syria in the WABA U16 Championship last month, but only in Overtime. That experience seems to have kept Fredrick Oniga’s boys in good stead as they kept their treacherous rivals on a tight leash right from the word go.

Malek Kanaan opened the scoring for the game with a crisp three-pointer and went on to convert three of his four three-pointer attempts and returned a similar record from the foul-line to score 12 points in the first ten minutes to lead the Jordanian charge.

The 178-cm guard led the led the scoring for the game with 28 points, and also collected three rebounds, effected three assists and two steals.

Muhammad Otabachi ploughed a lonely and therefore losing furrow for Syria.

China, Chinese Taipei win

China faced what probably was the most organized opposition in the Championship thus far, yet it caused very little worry for Asian giants to continue their unbeaten spree.

Guo Ailun was, once again, the main missile in coach Fan Bian’s arsenal.

The 191-cm guard scored a game-high 25 points and collected six rebounds, but also turned the ball over six times, despite not being under any severe pressure.

Ju Mingxin added 20 points to go with his six boards.

Zhai Xiaochuan led the game for rebounds with eight collections.

Korea, a far combination than presented by the score-line played rather gallantly. It was just that they were pitted against a much superior outfit.

All the Chinese players took to the court, and all of them scored – seven of them in double-digits.

Chinese Taipei and Japan were involved in an entertaining and evenly-matched encounter of East Asian basketball before the former held their nerves in the dying moments.

Chen Kuan-chuan scored 18 points and collected 10 rebounds – both team-highs to stand as the most significant contributor in Taipei’s win.

Ryo Tawatari returned a game-high 28 points, but that only eight of them came in the second half – only three in the fourth quarter – was a hindrance to the Japanese cause.

Yuto Aratani was the only Japanese to score in double-digits, where as Chen Kuan-chuan four of his teammates providing support in improving the his team’s scoreboard

Kazakhstan end losing streak

Kazakhstan bucked a three-game losing trend to keep hosts Malaysia on the ground with a 75-59 win in Group IV classification.

In the other game in Group IV, Kuwait outplayed fellow Gulf sub-zone team, Saudi Arabia 75-59 for their second straight win and headed for a higher finish in the minor placings.

In Group III action, India kept their composure throughout to beat Singapore 65-51 – the latter’s second defeat.

And Bahrain posted their second win from as many games beating Thailand 80-60.

Scores

Group I

China 121 (Guo Ailun 25, Ju Mingxin 20, Luo Hanchen 12, Wang Zirui 12, Gao Shang 11, Zhai Xiaochuan 11, Zhu Xuhang 10) bt Korea 51 (Hyeongjun Kim 11). Quarterwise Scores: 26014, 60-32, 96-41.

Chinese Taipei 75 (Chen Kuan-chuan 18, Chen Ying-chun 17, Wang Jen-chieh 15, Chung Wei-ping 13, Yang Hsihg-chih 12) bt Japan 67 (Ryo Tawatari 28). Quarterwise Scores: 23-25, 39-44, 61-60.

Group II

Jordan 77 (Malek Kanaan 28, Majdi Al-Ghzawi 12, Mohammad Alshami 10) bt Syria 70 (Muhammad Otabachi 27). Quarterwise Scores: 24-17, 40-31, 61-51.

Iran 76 (Mir Fattahi 20, Soheil Yousefi 15, Arman Zangeneh 11, Mohammad Ojaghi 10) bt Philippines 70 (Kiefer Ravena 26, Von Pessumal 13). Quarterwise Scores: 15-19, 38-26, 59-55.

Group III

India 65 (Shyam Sunder 15, Ankit Panigrahi 12, Joginder 10, Arun Harikumar 10) bt Singapore 51 (Ng Wei Xiang 15, Larry Liew 10). Quarterwise Scores: 10-14, 25-26, 39-51.

Bahrain 80 (Ali Ahmed Jamal 25, Mansoor Hussain 10) bt Thailand 60 (Torpong Mattayamanan 18, Loephong Kongtawee 11, Sarun Buranachan 11). Quarterwise Scores: 21-12, 40-26, 61-39.

Group IV

Kuwait 60 (Mashari Abu Dhom 17, Abdulrahman Alshammari 13, Hussain Shuaib 11) bt Saudi Arabia 40 (Ahmed Almukhtar 10). Quarterwise Scores: 12-12, 24-18, 44-27.

Kazakhstan 75 (Alimbek Orazov 18, Roman Morozov 14, Alexey Kurochka 13, Alumzhan Maxutov 12, Alexander Zhigulin 10) bt Malaysia 59 (Loh Shee Wong 22, Ang Vui Hang 10). Quarterwise Scores: 24-16, 37-31, 58-49.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia