DAY 2 OF THE 2011 FIBA-ASIA MEN'S TOURNEY

Eder Araujo Gorges was the big story, and the big difference,
as Syria held off a game Indonesian side.
(image from sports.163.com)

After the Jump: Scores, commentary and images from Day 2 of the 2011 FIBA-Asia Men's Championships in Wuhan, China.

SYRIA over INDONESIA, 74-61

SYR 74 - Gorges 24, Daks 14, Jlilati 10, Deeb 7, Al-Saman 7, Lubus 5, Nalbandian 3, Osfira 2, Kasaballi 2, Al-Khatib 0, Abboud 0, Al-Hamowi 0

INA 61 - Wuysang 11, Gunawan 11, Prawiro 9, Sitepu 7, Indrawan 6, Situmorang 6, Poedjakesuma 3, Prihantono 3, Dewanto 3, Haryoko 2

QS: 17-13, 34-33, 54-45, 74-61

- Moments after getting the all-clear from FIBA-Asia, Brazilian-Syrian Eder Araujo Gorges racked up a double-double to lead the Syrians to win #1 at the expense of the Indons.

- Gorges scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in an emphatic debut in the 2011 FIBA-Asia. Samir Daks backed him up, hitting 4 triples on his way to 14 markers.

- Indonesia stuck close for most of the game until Syria opened the last period with a 14-6 run that put themselves out of reach. Both Mario Wuysang and Rony Gunawan had 11 points to pace the Indons.

Wael Jlilati skies for the deuce.
(image from sports.163.com)

Xaverious Prawiro tries to stop the pass
from Vache Nalbandian.
(image from sports.163.com)

TAIWAN over UZBEKISTAN, 81-71

TPE 81 - Chang 15, Mao 13, Chen HA 11, Lu 11, Lee 8, Wu 7, Tseng 6, Chien 4, Lin 4, Ho 2, Chen SN 0, Su 0

UZB 71 - Zinovev 17, Belokurov 12, Kozlov 11, Denisov 11, Juginisov 11, Nuraliev 9, Shatrov 0, Khabibullin 0, Yahin 0, Pereverzev 0

QS: 24-14, 45-36, 67-50, 81-71

- The Taiwanese were hot off the gates and were never really threatened in this one. BYU-Hawaii alum Jet Chang led the way with 15 points as they gained momentum towards the last Group B game, which is against the severely depleted Qatar squad.

- Chang was ably supported by Mao Chia-En, who finished with 13 markers, and the hot shooting of Chen Hsin-An and Lu Cheng-Ju. Both finished with 11 points and combined for all 5 of the team's triples.

- Versatile forward Gennadiy Zinonev led the Uzbek assault, scoring 17 points and hitting 3 of his 6 attempts from downtown. They face the powerhouse Iranians next.

Lee Hsueh-Lin's playmaking helped Taiwan gather
its first win of the tournament.
(image from sports.163.com)

Mao Chia-En found stiff resistance from
Uzbekistan's Esat Halitov.
(image from sports.163.com)

Samender Jugisinov squares up against Taiwanese
big man Tseng Wen-Ting.
(image from sports.163.com)

JAPAN over JORDAN, 92-87

JPN 92 - Kawamura 23, Kashiwagi 14, Takeuchi J 13, Takeuchi K 12, Matsui 7, Sakurai 6, Hirose 6, Shonaka 6, Takeda 3, Amino 2, Ishizaki 0, Ota 0

JOR 87 - Wright 30, Abbaas 15, Zaghab 11, Al-Sous 9, Abbas 7, Abuquora 5, Soobzokov 5, Abu Ruqayah 3, Daghlas 2, Hussein 0

QS: 19-17, 36-29, 64-46, 92-87

- After Japan scored the opening basket, Jordan went on a 13-0 tear, but the Japs countered with their own 17-4 run that ended the period in their favor. They used another mighty 15-0 blast bridging the 2nd and 3rd periods to erect their biggest lead, 51-29 early in the 2nd half. They just cruised from thereon, despite the Jordanians mounting a rally in the fourth to make the score more respectable.

- Japan hit 13 of their 29 shots from beyond the arc, with Takuya Kamawamura hitting 4 and Shinsuke Kashiwagi making 3. Joji Takeuchi was a beast under the basket, scoring 13 points and grabbing 19 rebounds.

- Jordan had to play the entire 2nd half without star playmaker Sam Dahglas, who went down late in the 2nd period with an injury. His status is uncertain for tomorrow's game against Indonesia.

Zaid Abbas and the rest of Jordan played catch-up
against the Japanese.
(image from sports.163.com)

Sam Dahglas rejects a shot from Kosuke Takeuchi.
(image from sports.163.com)

Tomoo Amino drives left past
Rasheim Wright.
(image from sports.163.com)

SOUTH KOREA over LEBANON, 80-62

KOR 80 - Yang DG 20, Stevenson 18, Kim JS 16, Oh 13, Kang 6, Lee 5, Kim JK 2, Kim YH 0, Cho 0

LIB 62 - Reda 20, Akl 15, Hoskin 12, Bawji 10, Abdelnour 3, Stephan 2, Martinez 0, Kanaan 0, Tabet 0, Ibrahim 0

QS: 17-16, 33-29, 53-44, 80-62

- Lebanon put up stiff opposition, but faltered in the 2nd half as Korea romped away with win #2 in Group A.

- Ghaleb Reda led the Lebanese with 20 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals while yesterday's hero, Jean Abdelnour only had 3 markers to show for in 20 minutes of play. Naturalized big man Sam Hoskin played better this time around with 12 points and 9 boards, but he's still far from the form Lebanon needs for them to make a deep run in the tourney.

- Korea proved, once again, to be the steadier team. Yang Dong-Geun and Jarod Stevenson accounted for 6 of the team's 7 treys. Kim Joo-Sung was solid underneath, scoring 16 points and collecting 10 rebounds.

Jarod Stevenson waxed hot again from downtown to
help Korea secure its second straight win.
(image from sports.163.com)

Kim Joo-Sung came away with a double-double
against Lebanon.
(image from sports.163.com)

Sam Hoskin still has not flashed dominant form
in the 2011 FIBA-Asia.
(image from sports.163.com)

IRAN 40 over QATAR 4

IRI 40 - Afagh 10, Davarpanah 7, Davoudi 6, Kardoust 5, Davari 4, Haddadi 3, Atashi 2, Kazemi 2, Kamrani 1, Sahakian 0, Bahrami 0

QAT 4 - Matalkeh 3, Salem 1, Saad 0, Adam 0, Saeed 0

QS: 40-4

- Qatar stayed true to their words, defaulting again by way of all their active players fouling out in the first stanza.

- Iran wasn't too good from the line, however, hitting only 18 of 28 freebies. They still managed to hit 4 of 9 triples, though, thanks to Hamed Afagh, Aren Davoudi and Javad Davari. The Uzbeks are up next for Iran, and they should coast to a sweep of Group B thereafter.

- Qatar continued their strange way of protesting as they failed to establish the eligibility of their 5 stars. They should continue handing out the wins against the Taiwanese tomorrow.

Ali Saad (R) fould Mehdi Kamrani (L) as Qatar
continues its protest.
(image from sports.163.com)

Qatar's first and final five.
(image from sports.163.com)

MALAYSIA over INDIA, 71-67

MAS 71 - Ooi 20, Batumalai 14, Kuek 9, Chee 8, Loh 6, Ng 5, Kwaan 5, Lau 2, Wee 2, Kuppusamy 0

IND 67 - Singh J 25, Singh At 13, Koroth 11, Rai 6, Singh T 6, Bharama 2, Singh Al 2, Bhriguvanshi 1, Grewal 1, Singh Y 0

QS: 15-13, 42-26, 54-50, 71-67

- Given how India almost pulled the rug from under Lebanon, this seems to be the upset of the day, and maybe the biggest win for Malaysia in ages. The Malaysians started strong, leading 15-4 before India made a torrid 12-0 run to take the lead early in the 2nd period. It was a nip-tuck affair until Malaysia unleashed a 13-0 blast to lead 39-25 late in the 1st half. They managed to sustain it until India had a good 3rd quarter to cut down the deficit. Malaysia scored well in the late game to claim win #1 and a probable seat in the 2nd round.

- The Malaysians hit 10 threes in this game, thanks largely to Ban Sin Ooi's 4 trifectas. Guga Batumalai had a great game, too, hitting 14 points, getting 7 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists.

- Two guys finished with double-doubles for India -- Jagdeep Singh with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Amjyot Singh with 13 markers and 12 boards.

Ban Sin Ooi lit up the scoreboard with 4 treys
to lead Malaysia past India.
(image from basketball-tpe.org)

Jagdeep Singh was hot, scoring 25 points
for the Indians.
(image from rediff.com)

CHINA over PHILIPPINES, 75-60

CHN 75 - Yi J 20, Wang 16, Sun 15, Zhu 13, Zhang Z 3, Liu 2, Zhang B 2, Yi L 2, Ding 1, Yu 1, Su 0, Xirelijiang 0

PHL 60 - Douthit 17, Tiu 12, Williams 6, Casio 5, Alapag 5, Aguilar 4, Baracael 4, De Ocampo 3, Barroca 2, Taulava 2,

QS: 22-13, 43-21, 55-40, 75-60

- The Pinoys had a respectable start before China unloaded a 9-1 run to close the 1st quarter. Yi Jianlian kept on hitting mid-rangers to keep the Philippines outside of striking distance the rest of the way. The officiating elicited some harsh reactions, chiefly from Philippine NT coach Rajko Toroman, who got whistled for a T. With this win, China effectively sweeps Group D, unless the Emirates miraculously pull one over them tomorrow.

- Yi Jianlian was plainly unstoppable here, as he finished with 20 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. China's starting unit was just too big and too good here, even as their reserves struggled to find any good rhythm.

- Team Philippines outscored China in the 2nd half, but that was practically one whole half of garbage time already. They clearly missed Chris Lutz and Marcio Lassiter here, but should bounce back against Bahrain tomorrow.

Nobody could stop Yi Jianlian's barrage of jumpers.
(image from sports.163.com)

JV Casio drives left past a solid screen by Marcus Douthit.
(image from sports.163.com)

Kelly Williams tries to give Zhu Fangyu
a tough time in the paint.
(image from sports.163.com)

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 91 over BAHRAIN, 91-53

UAE 91 - Ahmad 17, Al-Zaabi 16, Al-Hattawi 13, Abdalla 13, Salem 9, Ahmed 7, Al-Braiki 6, Banihammad 6, Al-Sari 4, Al-Ali 0

BRN 53 - Isa 15, Al-Tawash 11, Malallah 11, Malabes 9, Sarhan 3, Akber 2, Mubarak 2, Ali 0, Khamis 0, Mahri 0, Ashoor 0

QS: 16-17, 37-27, 70-46, 91-53

- Bahrain started well, leading 9-2 early, but UAE dominated them afterwards. With this win, the Emirates are virtually assured of a slot in the 2nd round, unless Bahrain comes up with a stunner against the Filipinos tomorrow.

- It was a balanced attack for UAE, as 8 players finished with 6 or more points. Ibrahim Ahmad led all scorers with 17 points, thanks to his 3 triples. Ali Al-Hattawi had a double-double -- 13 markers and 10 rebounds, providing the muscle underneath for UAE.

- Bader Malabes cooled down in this game after being hot against China yesterday. It was Maitham Isa who led Bahrain with 15 points on the strength of 4 triples. They face a tall order against the Pinoys tomorrow.