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FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Men: Day 4 round-up
TEHRAN (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Men): Defending champions China’s forfeiture against Syria and Kazakhstan’s 106-103 win in second Overtime over last edition’s bronze medalists Lebanon were Sunday’s highlights as the 20th FIBA Asia U18 Championship Men entered into its Quarterfinal round.
Incidentally, both the games came in Group I.
Action in Group II was rather incident-free, although not uninteresting, with hosts Iran pulling the plug off Japan’s hopes by a 111-91 margin and Korea pushing their game notches up when needed to thwart Philippines 98-80.
With 6:13 left in the third quarter and leading 46-41, China seemed headed for another win.
But at that juncture China coach Li Chunjiang vociferously protested a foul on his team and when slapped with a Technical Foul asked his team to walk out.
Match Commissioner Jafarian Nosratollah tried to bring sanity to the proceedings and bring China back on the court.
But when the Chinese team stuck to their stance and refused to return to the court, the referee awarded a forfeit in favour of Syria.
Syria, thus won the game 20-0 and earned two points. China paid the penalty of drawing a blank.
Kazakhstan trailed for a good part of their game.
They managed to level the scores only with 1:40 left in the game, but immediately took the lead and then pushed the game into the Overtime.
The teams looked edgy and nervous and the first five minutes of extension failed to break the deadlock, with Berik Ismail’s two free-throws after the hooter, confirmed only after checking with video evidence for the legitimacy of his claim to the free-throws.
Lebanon guard Ahmad Ibrahim had his best day of the tournament in scoring – with a staggering 49 point tournament-high – but committed the most ludicrous of the violations by traveling in the dying moments of the second Overtime.
With 25 seconds left, Anton Arsenyev scored his third three-pointer for the game to put Kazakhstan 104-103 ahead. Arsenyev, deservingly, topped the scoring for Kazakhstan with 30 points.
And Kazakhstan converted two more free-throws to clinch the issue.
Scores
Group I
Kazakhstan 106 (Anton Arsenyev 30, Alexander Ledovskikh 17, Omirzak Akhmet 14) bt Lebanon 103 (Ahmad Ibrahim 49, Vincent El Khouri 23). Quarterwise Scores: 20-22, 31-44, 60-63, 82-82. 1st OT: 92-92.
Group II
Iran 111 (Ernad Salmani 22, Mehdi Shirjang 19, Mohammad Hasanzadeh 17, Sabooni Varnisavadarani 14, Farbod Farman 13) bt Japan 91 (Yusoke Karino 23, Yuya Nagayoshi 18, Daichi Taniguchi 14, Kaito Ishikawa 14). Quarterwise Scores: 24-21, 53-46, 78-63.
Korea 98 (Lim Jongill 23, Park Jaehyun 17, Jang Jaeseok 14) bt Philippines 80 (Jaypee Mendoza 14, Ryan Garcia 14, Joseph Terso 13). Quarterwise Scores: 24-23, 50-39, 73-57.
Group III
Chinese Taipei 109 (Lin Li-Jen 18, Chanj Po-Wi 18, Shih Chin-Yao 15) bt Saudi Arabia 92 (Seraaj Buswyhel 32). Quarterwise Scores: 31-12, 62-30, 87-55.
Group IV
Jordan 88 (Abdul Aziz Shaneik 29, Odai Abuqamar 16) bt UAE 49 (Salah Khalifa Abdulla 15). Quarterwise Scores: 25-9, 48-26, 72-37.
Hong Kong 85 (Chow Kin Wan 29, Lee Kwan Yu 19) bt Malaysia 82 (Ong Chun Khee 29, Kuek Tian Yuan 12, Te Kok Lim 12). Quarterwise Scores: 21-18, 43-47, 63-61.
S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia
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