DAY 8 OF THE 2011 FIBA-ASIA U16 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Heo Ho-On, son of Korean legend Hur Jae, shot down
the Pinoys in the 2011 FIBA Asia U16 Semifinals.

After the JUMP, you'll find scores, commentary and photos from Day 8 of the 2011 FIBA-Asia U16 Championships in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

*All images by Milad Payami/FIBAAsia.net

11th-12th Place

QATAR over VIETNAM, 59-58

QAT 59 - Abdelkawy 21, Saad 20, Mohamed 8, Dawoud 6, Al-Ahbabi 2, Al-Abidi 2, Al-Ahmad 0, Al-Tamimi 0, Al-Malki 0, Al-Sheraim 0

VIE 58 - Nguyen DT 20, Do 11, Nguyen VH 10, Tran J 7, Nguyen XH 6, Cao 2, Tran NT 2, Nguyen MT 0, Tran VN 0, Dinh 0

QS: 13-5, 34-20, 52-40, 59-58

- Vietnam came close, but couldn't make the biggest plays at the end to upset the Qataris.

- Mohamed Abdelkawy and Abdulrahman Saad led Qatar anew, combining for 41 points, including 5 triples. They shot just 17-of-58 from the field, though. Qatar clinches 11th place.

- Thong Nguyen Duy shot his way to 20 big points to lead Vietnam, but he couldn't carry them through to a breakout win. Minh Do Duy and Hung Nguyen Van scored 11 and 10 points respectively. Vietnam places 12th.

Vietnam almost got win #1.
Almost.

Saad Abdulrahman led Qatar anew.

Minh Do Duy tries a lay-up against taller
Qatari defense.

9th-10th Place

TAIWAN over INDIA, 61-60

TPE 61 - Wang 17, Wu 11, Lu 9, Lee 9, Pan 7, Chen PL 4, Chen CJ 4, Liu 0, Yeh 0, Huang CY 0

IND 60 - Bhamara 29, Bhaupur 10, Saminathan 7, Ludhiana 7, Singh 7, Sanjeev 0, Narender 0

QS: 11-16, 32-34, 49-42, 61-60

- Taiwan scraped through in the endgame to pull the rug from under India and clinch 9th place.

- Lu Kuan-Shiuan had another miserable shooting game, but he hit the biggest shot of the game with 3 ticks left and sent the Indians reeling to 10th place. Lu scored 9 points in all while Wang I-Fan and Wu You-Da paired up for 8 treys and the duo finished with 17 and 11 points respectively.

- Coach JP Singh played only 8 guys, but it still didn't get him a win. Satnam Bhamara was a beast again, scoring 29 points and blocking 8 shots, but he committed 8 turnovers. Haryana Bhaupur was the only other guy in twin digits with 10. The key stat was India's poor FT shooting -- 11-of-21 for just 52%.

Chen Po-Liang shoots amidst the swarming
Indian defenders.

Haryana Bhaupur finds himself open near the hole.

Satnam Bhamara had another good outing
despite the loss to Taiwan.

5th-8th Place Matches

LEBANON over SAUDI ARABIA, 76-43

LIB 76 - Salem 17, Hadidian 14, El-Kaissi 10, Zeinoun 7, Al-Agha 6, Assaf 6, Abou Jaoude 6, Kabalan 4, Daaboul 4, Kourjian 2, Wehbe 0

KSA 43 - Sakar 18, Barnawi 8, Al-Thalabi 6, Al-Tamar 6, Al-Malalah 4, Mobarki 1, Hansawi 0, Al-Mutairi 0, Al-Khammas 0, Shubayli 0, Musallam 0

QS: 21-12, 38-24, 60-32, 76-43

- Coach Joe Moujaes returned to his original top two scorers and it paid dividends as Lebanon swept the Saudis aside to stay in contention for a Top 5 finish.

- Jimmy Salem and Gerard Hadidian combined for 31 points on 12-of-25 FG shooting to pace the Lebanese and set up a clash with Iraq for 5th spot next. Lebanon also had significantly more assists (21-10) and steals (21-7) than their opponents to emphasize their dominance.

- KSA was led by Abdulaziz Sakar's 18 markers on 50% FG shooting. He also hit 2 treys, had 3 steals and 2 blocks. Nobody else breached the 10-point barrier. KSA drops to the battle for 7th spot.

Naif Al-Thalabi tries to shoot it from mid-range.

Yaacoub Al-Agha stood head & shoulders
above the opposition.

Jimmy Salem invites the contact in mid-air.

IRAQ over INDONESIA, 99-38

IRQ 99 - Hamzah 18, Mohammed 18, Mahdi 17, Ahmed 13, Ismael 13, Razzaq 6, Abdulqaer 5, Sabri 4, Saeed 3, Ali 2, Abdullah 0, Abdullhussein 0

INA 38 - Kosasih 10, Indraprasto 7, Abraham 6, Sidabutar 5, Ramadhan 5, Fahdani 3, Airawan 1, Purwoko 1, Yogia 0, Setiawan 0, Wongso 0

QS: 25-10, 54-20, 71-31, 99-38

- Iraq vented all the frustration born of their defeat to the Phillipines on the hapless Indons to book a seat for the 5th place match against Lebanon.

- Five guys scored in double-figures led by Karrar Hamzah and Alaa Mohammed, who scored 18 points apiece. Farid Mahdi ended up with 17 markers while Ali Ahmed and Ismael Ismale each tossed in 13 points. Iraq cooled off from beyond the arc, hitting just 3 all game, but they did connect on 54% of their total field goals.

- Vincent Kosasih remained to be the most reliable Indon with 10 points and 6 blocks, but he did shoot just 38% from the floor. Coach Ricky Gunawan's crew managed just 22% FG shooting and committed 27 turnovers on their way to a battle got 7th spot against KSA.

Ahmed Razzaq gets an open look from in close.

Vincent Kosasih tries to lob it over the Iraqi D.

Alaa Mohammed scoops it up as Iraq
stays alive for 5th place.

Semifinals

CHINA over JAPAN, 82-43

CHN 82 - Zhao 18, Yan 18, Zhou 15, Xu 6, Liu B 6, Yu 5, Heng 5, Pan 4, Luo 3, Guo 2, Lai 0

JPN 43 - Sugiura 19, Shirato 8, Kaneko 4, Yanagawa 4, Shinkawa 2, Kakiuchi 2, Miyamoto 2, Yamamoto 2, Chikui 0

QS: 30-14, 44-27, 60-33, 82-43

- By resting scorer Yudai Baba, it's pretty clear coach Hideki Togashi conceded this match and instead prepped for the bronze medal match against the Philippines. China took the better part of the first frame to find their rhythm, but once they did they never let up the pressure.

- Zhao Jiwei and Yan Haoxin each hit 4 triples and both scored 18 points to complement Zhou Qi's almost flawless shooting. Big man Zhou ended up with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting in 26 minutes. China continues to roll comfortably over all opponents, and should have little trouble clinching the gold against Korea.

- Yusei Sugiura led Japan's charge with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He was, however, the only guy in double-figures as Japan missed all its three-point attempts and managed a lowly 34% FG shooting clip. Japan gets a rematch against the Pinoys for 3rd place next.

Koki Miyamoto gets tangled up with the
bigger Chinese frontline.

Kishin Kakiuchi gets a rare easy lay-up.

Zhou Qi continued to dominate against Japan.

SOUTH KOREA over PHILIPPINES, 67-58

KOR 67 - Heo 22, Kim NH 16, Kim GC 16, Kim MK 7, Lee 2, Yun 2, Park 2, Shin 0

PHL 58 - Alejandro 12, Asilum 12, Javelosa 7, Ramos 6, Rivero 6, Diputado 6, Cani 5, Lao 4, Dalafu 0, Heading 0

QS: 19-21, 37-29, 58-50, 67-58

- The Philippines started hot and fast again, but Korea put the speed bumps on them in the 2nd frame and held them off long enough in crunch-time to book a spot in the championship game and a ticket to the FIBA U17 Championships in Lithuania next year.

- Heo Ho-On used his wily smarts to score 22 points despite shooting just 29% from the field. Kim Nak-Hyeon and Kim Gook-Chan helped him out with 16 markers each while Park In-Tae proved to be steady down low even if he scored just 2 points. Korea gets a rematch with China for the Asian title, though they might probably get blown out again.

- The Filipinos limited Korea's three-point shooting to just 14%, but they couldn't find the hole themselves, uncharacteristically making just 29% of their FG attempts. Key player Jordan Heading failed to score while Jay-J Alejandro and Renzar Asilum shot a total of 9-of-39 from the field for a combined 24 markers. The Pinoys suffer another heartbreaker to the Koreans, who've beaten them in crucial games with disturbing consistency over the past 2 decades.