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FIBA Asia – Iran, Kazakhstan enter semis; China face ouster
TEHRAN (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Men): Defending champions China bounced back into the championship race with a 101-74 mauling of Lebanon on Monday, but will need a lot more ‘help’ from the latter if they need to make the semifinals from Group I.
Kazakhstan became the first team from Middle Asia sub zone to make the semifinals, in more than three decades beating Syria 83-81.
Meanwhile in Group II, hosts Iran booked their place in the last four with a come from behind 85-79 win over Korea and Japan clinically demolished Philippines 86-78.
Kazakhstan’s win which came thanks to a solid second half, left defending champions China’s fate hanging in balance.
“This is a great day in Kazakh basketball,” beamed Nikholay Mikhalchuk the General Manager of the Kazakhstan National teams.
Syria, now can even afford to lose to Lebanon on Tuesday and still make the last four grade, if they don’t lose big.
Lebanon need to beat Syria by at least 35 points on Tuesday in order to qualify. Should Lebanon win by 14 points, China will go through leaving Syria out.
Kazakhstan, who showed tremendous resilience and resourcefulness in beating Lebanon in double Overtime on Sunday, made another fight back against Syria.
Alexander Tytyunik scored 15 of his 19 points in the third quarter as Kazakhs, who trailed marginally in the first two quarters outscored Syria 32-22 in the third quarter.
Syria staged their own rally to level, but could only manage to stay close. With 5 seconds left in the game, Syria’s Jmell Sder was fouled which brought him to the foul-line. As things would turn out, Sder missed both his free-throws
Iran too had a none to satisfactory first half and coach Nebojsa Raicevic called upon his boys to “forget the result and play with your heart.”
As if on cue, Iran staged remarkable rally to book their semifinal place.
Emad Salmani with 22 points was the highest scorer for Iran alright, but the more important contributions came from Mehdi Shirjang, Mohammad Hasanzadeh and Farbod Farman.
Shirjang scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Hasanzadeh scored all his 12 points and collected 11 of his game-high 19 rebounds in the second half.
Farman had only four points in the first half, but added 13 more in the second.
Salmani’s consistent showing throughout the game, thus, got the necessary support. Salmani had five assists and three steals to add value to his scoring.
Needing a big win to stay in contention, China achieved their target with customary panache.
Li Xiaxou, the lone remaining player from the team which won the title in Urumqi two years ago, led the Chinese assault with 27 points, and a game-high 10 rebounds. He also had three blocks, besides two assists and as many steals.
Dong Hanlin took Wang Zheng’s place in the starting five and the 207cm forward justified his coach’s faith returning a 8/10 record on the floor for 18 points. Dong also collected seven rebounds.
Scores
Group I
China 101 (Li Xiaxou 27, Dong Hanlin 18, Zhao Hongwei 16, Ran Sui 12, Cao Fei 11) bt Lebanon 74 (Ahmad Ibrahim 34). Quarterwise Scores: 29-21, 48-34, 70-52.
Kazakhstan 83 (Anton Arsenyev 28, Alezxander Tyutyunik 19, Omirzak Akhmet 15) bt Syria 81 (Belal Gneed 22, Tarek Al Jade 11, Mohammad Osfira 11). Quarterwise Scores: 18-19, 33-36, 65-58.
Group II
Iran 85 (Emad Salmani 20, Mehdi Shirjang 19, Farbod Farman 17, Mohammad Hasanzadeh 12) bt Korea 79 (Jaehyun Park 23, Seounghyun Lee 14, Jongill Lim 12, Byeonghun Yoo 11). Quarterwise Scores: 14-22, 26-39, 55-61.
Japan 86 (Yusoke Karino 25, Makoto Hiejima 22, Kaito Ishikawa 14, Daichi Taniguchi 12) bt Philippines 78 (Norberto Torres 24, Matthew Wright 17, Joseph Tolentino 11). Quarterwise Scores: 21-18, 46-39, 64-59.
Group III
Chinese Taipei 95 (Chunj Hsiu-Nai 16, Lin Li-Jen 14, Chanj Po-Wi 12) bt India 86 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 32, Pratham Singh 19). Quarterwise Scores: 24-25, 48-46, 72-55.
Group IV
Hong Kong 72 (Lau Hoi To 20, Lau Tsz Lai 11) bt UAE 70 (Salah Khalifa Abdalla 27, Omar Khalid Faqqas 13). Quarterwise Scores: 22-12, 26-37, 47-50.
Jordan 84 (Louay Obeidi 35, Odai Abuqamar 20) bt Malaysia 72 (Kwaan Yoong Jing 27, Ong Chun Khee 16). Quarterwise Scores: 18-22, 40-36, 65-56.
S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia
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