Day 8 of the
2013 FIBA Asia Men’s Championships at the ultra-modern Mall of Asia Arena began
with the continent having zero representatives to the 2014 FIBA World Cup, but
it ended with two countries finally making the grade – Iran and the host
country, the Philippines. Team Melli had to scramble to dominate a gritty
Taiwanese five, while the Pinoys finally exorcised ghosts of the past by willing
their way to beat Korea.
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| Marc Pingris exhibited true grit and heart in toppling the mighty Koreans. |
In the first
game of the day, the Indians improved on their 2011 14th place finish by
beating Bahrain, 75-65, and finishing 11th place in 2013. This is a good result
for coach Scott Flemming, who envisions a much-improved Indian squad at the end
of his 2-year contract with the team. Vishesh Bhriguvanshi led India with 19
points -- 10 of which were off of free throws -- 7 rebunds, and 4 assists,
while fellow wingman Pratham Singh registered 16 markers. Rikin Pethani and
Amjyot Singh lorded the painted area with a combined 15 points, 15 rebounds,
and 2 blocks. Coach Sasa Nikitovic of Bahrain, once again, rested a handful of
his main players as the Red Wolves absorb their fifth straight loss after going
2-1 in the prelims. Hussain Shaker led Bahrain with 20 points, 7 boards, and 6
dimes, while Mohammed Al Derazi dropped 11 markers and grabbed 9 rebounds.
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| Satnam Singh Bhamara tries a hook shot. |
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| Hussain Shaker was Bahrain's top gun. |
The second
game of the day featured Kosuke Kanamaru finding his stroke again, but it was a
little too late in the tournament already as Japan played for scraps in beating
the Hong Kongers, 79-50. Kanamaru, who is reportedly set to play for the Toyota
Alvark in the upcoming Japanese NBL season, sank 11 of his 18 field goals,
including 3 triples, to finish with 25 points. Atsuya Ota was solid down low
with 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists, while Yuta Watanabe scored 13
markers in extended minutes. Hong Kong was led by big man Duncan Reid, who
netter a sublime double-double line of 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 1 block.
Japan finishes in 9th place, while Hong Kong is at 10th.
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| Ryota Sakurai goes up strong. |
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| Lee Ki runs into Daiki Tanaka. |
The third game
saw how, for a few moments in this game, it looked as if the Chinese would drop
the ball again and end up losing against a less ballyhooed foe. Instead, Wang
Zhizhi came through in the clutch to save his forlorn squad from yet another
embarrassment and push them into the battle for 5th place tomorrow. When the
final buzzer sounded, China survived Jordan, 79-76. Yi Jianlian had 18 points,
5 assists, and 4 rebounds for China, while Zhizhi turned back the clock and
unloaded a tournament-high 33 points on top of 7 boards and 3 dimes. China
hikes its record to 5-3, its lowest since going 3-4 in 2007. Jordan was paced
by 17 markers from Wesam Al Sous, who earlier in the day hoped that his team's
performance this year will usher in a revolution in Jordanian hoops. Jimmy
Baxter and Mohammad Hadrab backed him up with 13 points apiece. Jordan had its
chances to spring an upset, but they took some ill-advised shots in the final
minute that helped seal their fate.
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| Zhou Peng tries to go strong to the basket. |
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| Jimmy Baxter challenges Zhou Peng. |
In the fourth
game of the day, it seemed like the Taiwanese might spring another one of their
upset surprises, but it was not to be. The Iranians, down by 9 after one
quarter, were just too mentally tough. They rallied in the second quarter to
take the halftime lead and then pulverized Taiwan in the third frame to put the
outcome beyond doubt and book the first Asian slot to the 2014 World Cup in
Madrid. Mahdi Kamrani was at his very best here, scattering 19 points, 6
rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals while shooting 8/10 from the field, while
Hamed Haddadi bucked foul trouble to register 17 points and 14 boards.
Chinese-Taipei, for its part, was led by Quincy Davis and Chen Shih-Chieh, who
dropped 16 and 11 markers respectively.
Taiwan is now relegated to the battle for third. If they win that, they
will still qualify for the World Cup.
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| Quincy Davis failed to lead Taiwan past Iran. |
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| Lu Cheng-Ju and the Taiwanese were stifled by Iran's suffocating defense. |
The
fifth game of the day featured all of Gilas Pilipinas's bad basketball history
with Korea condensed into 40 minutes, but, at last, on this night, Gilas was
the one who pulled through. With Gilas already trailing Korea in the first
half, things took a sudden turn for the worse when Marcus Douthit limped to the
locker room because it seems he re-injured his right calf. Douthit never
returned. Ironically, however, Douthit's exit proved to be the spark that Gilas
needed. With their big brother or "kuya" out of commission, the Gilas
boys rallied each other not only to catch up with Korea, but to take charge of
the game and clinch the elusive World Cup berth. There were many heroes, of
course. Foremost among them were probably Jayson Castro and Marc Pingris, whose
game-long brilliance kept Gilas in the game and eventually towed the team ahead
of the Taeguk Warriors. Castro scored 17 points, had 3 assists, and 1 block in
a scintillating display of speed, while Pingris reeled in a mighty
double-double with 16 markers and 10 caroms despite being severely undersized
against the Korean frontline. Despite their efforts, however, Korea still had
the inside track in earning the W, and they would have had it not been for the
heroics of one Jimmy Alapag. The National Team veteran, who was part of the
2007 team that failed to make the quarterfinals and of the 2011 team that lost
to this team in the bronze medal game, personally collected on Korea's payables
in the fourth quarter. He drained basket after basket as coach Yoo Jae-Hak's
wards kept within striking distance. Almost single-handedly, Alapag was the one
who lifted Gilas past Korea and on to Spain. In the end, the Mighty Mouse
drained 4 triples on his way to 14 points in just 17 minutes -- a performance
that will certainly go down as one of the finest in Philippine hoops history.
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| Kim Min-Goo put on a shooting clinic against Gilas. |
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| Jayson Castro makes a daredevil drive to the hole. |
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| Ranidel De Ocampo and Lee Jong-Hyun battle for the ball. |
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| Jayson Castro and Jimmy Alapag celebrate after clinching the huge victory for the Philippines. |
The day ended
with Qatar bucking the absence of naturalized player Jarvis Hayes, who came
down with a sprained ankle in their previous game, to beat Kazakhstan, 72-67,
and stay alive for a possible fifth place finish. Once again, the immortal
Yasseen Ismail Musa led Al Ennabi's efforts with 18 points and 5 rebounds. He
was backstopped by 15 points from Daoud Musa Daoud and 12 markers from Baker
Mohammed. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, was paced by bruiser Mikhail Yevstigneyev, who
drilled in 24 points while also grabbing 13 rebounds. He was the only Snow
Leopard who broke into double-digits, though. Anton Ponomarev and Jerry Johnson
both continued to struggle from the floor, combining to shoot just 5/21 from
the field. Kazakhstan plays Jordan for 7th place today.
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| Mikhail Yevstigneyev goes up for the inside deuce. |
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| Saad Abdulrahman shoots over the Kazakh D. |
2013 FIBA Asia
Championship Finals
Sunday Games
Final Round:
For 7th: Jordan vs Kazakhstan
For 5th: China vs Qatar
For 3rd: South Korea vs Taiwan
Championship: Iran vs the Philippines
THE TOP THREE
(3) TEAMS – Champion, Second Place, and Third Place – will all get slots in the
2014 FIBA World Cup in Madrid, Spain.
Iran and the
Philippines have booked two (2) of those berths already, and the winner of the
Korea-Taiwan match will gain the last slot.
It is also
still possible that FIBA will select and invite a fourth Asian team as a
“wildcard,” but the chances of that happening are very slim.
BOX SCORES:
INDIA over BAHRAIN,
75-65
IND 75 - Bhriguvanshi 19, Singh P 16, Singh Amj
9, Singh J 7, Singh Y 7, Pethani 6, Bhamara 6, Kaushik 2, Singh Amr 2, Singh
Arj 1, Grewal 0
BRN 65 - Shaker 20, Quwayed 12, Al Derazi 11,
Azzam 8, Najaf 5, Hussain 5, Quwayed M 4, Mallalah 0
QS: 27-13, 40-39, 53-51, 75-65
JAPAN over HONG
KONG, 79-50
JPAN 79 - Kanamaru 25, Ota 15, Watanabe 13,
Hinkley 10, Sakurai 4, Tsuji 4, Kurihara 2, Takeuchi 2, Matsui 2, Hiejima 2,
Tanaka 0, Sakuragi 0
HKG 50 - Reid 18, Lee 8, Li 8, Lau Tu 6, Chan Y
5, Wong 2, Chan S 2, Szeto 1, Lam 0, Lau Tz 0
QS: 17-16, 38-29, 53-38, 79-50
CHINA over JORDAN,
79-76
CHN 79 - Wang ZZ 33, Yi 18, Zhou 13, Wang ZL 8,
Wang S 6, Zhu 1, Liu 0, Guo 0, Sun 0
JOR 76 - Al Sous 17, Baxter 13, Hadrab 13, Al
Faraj 7, Hussein 7, Al Hamarsheh 6, Abdeen 5, Zaghab 5, Abu Ruqayah 2, Al
Dwairi 1, Al Najjar 0
QS: 18-12, 32-27, 55-52, 79-76
IRAN over TAIWAN,
79-60
IRI 79 - Kamrani 19, Haddadi 17, Sahakian 13,
Afagh 10, Bahrami 8, Kardoust 8, Jamshidi 2, Davoudi 2, Sohrabnejad 0, Arghavan
0
TPE 60 - Davis 16, Chen 11, Tsai 6, Tseng 6,
Hung 5, Lu 5, Tien 4, Lin 3, Yang 2, Creighton 2, Chou 0
QS: 14-23, 41-35, 60-39, 79-60
PHILIPPINES over
SOUTH KOREA, 86-79
PHL 86 - Castro 17, Pingris 16, Alapag 14, De
Ocampo 11, Tenorio 9, Aguilar 8, Chan 5, Norwood 2, Douthit 2, Fonacier 2,David
0
KOR 79 - Kim MG 27, Yang 11, Kim JS 11, Lee SJ 10, Lee JH 10, Cho 6, Kim SH 2,
Kim TS 2, Yoon 0, Kim JK 0
QS: 15-19, 36-39, 65-56, 86-79
QATAR over KAZAKHSTAN,
72-67
QAT 72 - Musa 18, Daoud 15, Mohammed 12, Ali 8,
El Hadary 7, Abdulrahman 7, Abdullah Mo 2, Yousef 2, Abdi 1
KAZ 67 - Yevstigneyev 24, Johnson 9, Yargaliev
8, Sultanov 8, Lapchenko 7, Ponomarev 5, Klimov 2, Bazhin 2, Bondarovich 2,
Murzagaliev 0, Zhigulin 0
QS: 20-15, 39-32, 58-45, 72-67
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