JOR / KAZ – Rasheim shows the Wright way for Jordan

TIANJIN (FIBA Asia Championship) - Rasheim Wright shot a game-high 29 points to iron out the creases in Jordan’s plays and the West Asian powerhouse marched past Kazakhstan 98-80 in a Group F eight-final round game on Monday.

Wright shot a staggering 80% in field attempts (12/15) as Jordan took control of the proceedings midway through the first quarter and scraped through the rest of the way.

Zaid Abbas played with customary gusto to add support in scoring to Wright’s efforts.

Sam Daghlas returned to the Jordanian starting line-up and Zaid Alkhas returned to play from an ankle injury-break, but ironically Jordan struggled to get into the rhythm they had shown in their three successive wins in the preliminary round.

“Our fast breaks saved us the day,” Jordan coach Mario Palma heaved a sigh of relief.

Daghlas and Zaid Abbas both had individual scoring honours, but Palma had enough reasons to be on the tenterhooks with his customary animated instructions for most of the game.

Daghlas had a team-high five assists to add value to his 17 points.

Zaid Abbas too effected five assists and pulled down four rebounds to go with his 21 points.

Kazakhstan, who had scraped past India to make it to the eight-final round, too had struggles of their own – especially in defence which gave Jordan the loophole to escape.

“I think we are playing our worst basketball in the last five years or so,” bemoaned Nikholay Mikhalchuk, the general manager of the Kazakhstan national teams, speaking on behalf of the coaching staff.

Anton Ponomarev, as usual, was the leading scorer for Kazakhstan with 24 points. And Alexander Tyutyunik scored as many points.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia

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