|
CHN / KAZ – China win, but destiny unknown
TEHRAN (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Men): China began strongly, cantered through the middle and finished with a force to beat Kazakhstan 97-64 in a Group I Quarterfinal round game on Tuesday.
For Kazakhstan, the result made no difference, with the Middle Asian nation having already qualified for the semifinals.
China, though have to await the outcome and score-line of the final game of the Group later tonight between Syria and Lebanon to know their fate.
Liu Shunan led China’s scoring with a game-high 25 points.
Li Xiaxou, the ‘veteran’ in China’s line-up collected seven rebounds to go with his 19 points.
Kazakh coach Vadim Buryakov stuck to the strategy of giving his bench more time on the court.
Alexander Tytyunik, who had averaged 17 points and 7.4 rebounds in the first five games for Kazakhstan did not even take to the court.
“We did it for three reasons,” Buryakov said.
“We had played four tough games in five nights. Moreover the last two nights had been very hard on the boys. That’s why the bench played longer.”
“Moreover we were playing China. There can be no better opportunity to play against a quality opposition without pressure,” he said.
“And this result was not going to affect our progress in anyway. And I wanted the bench to be geared up for any situation in the semifinals,” he said.
Anton Arsenyev scored 17 points and collected four boards.
Scores
China 97 (Liu Shunan 25, Li Xiaxou 19, Ren Junfei 12) bt Kazakhstan 64 (Anton Arsenyev 17, Pavel Llin 14). Quarterwise Scores: 21-9, 47-37, 67-53.
S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia
|
