Second round action concluded on Day 6 of the 2013
FIBA Asia Men’s Championships at the ultra-modern Mall of Asia Arena, and the results
finalized the seedings and pairings heading into the quarterfinals on Friday.
We also saw what was, hopefully, Gilas Pilipinas’s worst possible performance
of the tourney.
 |
| Marcus Douthit and the Filipinos sailed through rough seas against the upstart Hong Kongers. |
In the first game of the day, Jordan advanced to the
knockout quarterfinals after disposing of the hard-luck Japanese, 65-56. Jordan
upped its second round record to 2-3, which is good enough for fourth seed in
Group E. This means they will face Iran in the quarterfinals in a rematch of
their quarterfinal pairing two years ago in Wuhan, China. Japan struggled in
this game, shooting just 31% from the field and losing the battle of the
boards, 31-48. The diminutive Naoto Tsuji was the lone bright spot for Japan
with 14 points on the strength of 4 triples, while Jimmy Baxter led Jordan with
16 markers and 6 rebounds. Mohammad Shaher Hussein also did well for coach
Vangelis Alexandris with 15 points and a herculean 19 rebounds! Japan is
relegated to the 9th-12th place games.
 |
| Mohammad Hadrab goes up over Sean Hinkley. |
 |
| Makoto Hiejima slides under Jimmy Baxter. |
The second game of the day featured the Kazakhs, without Jerry Johnson and Mikhail Yevstigneyev, struggling to stay in the game against the very driven Iranians. After a
close first period, Iran just outplayed the former Soviet nation and ran away
with win #6, 85-53. This cements the final quarterfinal seedings for Group F,
with Iran firmly on top, Korea at second, China at third followed by Kazakhstan
at fourth. Hamed Haddadi was his dominant self again, scoring 16 points and
grabbing 9 rebounds in just 18 minutes of play. Backcourt mates Hamed Afagh and
Mahdi Kamrani also did well with 15 and 11 markers respectively. Kamrani also
added 7 assists and 3 steals. Wingman Rustam Yargaliev was the only bright spot
for Kazakhstan with 14 points.
 |
| Hamed Haddadi encountered little resistance from the Kazakhs. |
 |
| Nikolai Bazhkin tries to shoot from long range. |
After prevailing in the third game, coach Tom Wisman
cracked that he could probably run for office in the Philippines and win after
his Qatari team beat the Taiwanese, 71-68. In doing so, Qatar secured third
spot in Group E and dropped Taiwan to second behind the Philippines, which
carries a superior quotient compared to the other two teams. Wisman credited
his 38-year old big man Yasseen Ismail Musa with leading Al Ennabi to the W.
Musa tallied 20 points and 19 rebounds while shooting 9/15 from the field.
Jarvis Hayes also did well with 13 markers and 7 boards for the victors, who
are set to face Korea in the quarterfinals. On the other end, Taiwan was led by
Quincy Davis and Chen Shih-Chieh, who scored 23 and 13 points respectively.
Taiwan is set to face China in the knockout round.
 |
| Tseng Wen-Ting and the Taiwanese were stifled by the gritty Qataris. |
 |
| Ali Turki Ali shoots over Quincy Davis. |
In the fourth game of the day, China rolled to its
third win in the second round, routing the Bahrainis, 88-66. In doing so, Team
Dragon secured the third seed in Group F and set a quarterfinal knockout clash
opposite Taiwan on Friday. Yi Jianlian finally played after resting for the
past five days, scoring 12 points and hauling down 6 rebounds in under 13 minutes
of play. Chen Jianghua also stepped up for coach Giannakis Panagiotis, scoring
13 points in under 17 minutes of action. Four other Chinese broke into
double-digits in the lopsided win. As for the Red Wolves, Hussain Al Tawash
Shaker and Subah Azzam each netted 13 markers as the scoring leaders. Bahrain,
despite being obviously outmatched, never really trailed by exorbitant
proportions. Coach Sasa Nikitovic's wards will now prepare for the 9th-12th
place matches. Their first opponent will be Hong Kong on Friday.
 |
| Subah Azzam goes strong against Wang Zhelin. |
 |
| Yi Jianlian returned to action after a four-game absence. |
The fifth game of the day featured Hong Kong nearly driving
Gilas to the brink, losing by a margin that doesn't really represent how
unexpectedly close this game was. The home team, buoyed by the partisan
audience and the huge Qatar win earlier in the day, should have run roughshod
over the overmatched and inexperienced Hong Kongers, but they were, instead,
hampered by atrocious shooting and rebounding. Injured players Marcus Douthit
and Ranidel De Ocampo were expected to play sparingly in this encounter, but
the way the game unfolded dictated that the duo play a total of 43+ minutes.
That was certainly more than what coach Chot Reyes wanted, but it was necessary
for Gilas to come out on top, 67-55, and formally clinch the top spot in Group
E heading into the quarterfinals. This is Gilas's lowest scoring output of the
tournament so far, and it certainly doesn't bode well heading into the knockout
game against Kazakhstan tomorrow. Douthit led the Pinoys with 13 points, 8
rebounds, and 2 blocks, while Jeff Chan nailed 3 triples on his way to a dozen
markers. Chan Siu Wing and Duncan Reid dropped 16 and 12 points respectively to
pace Hong Kong. Reid also added 19 rebounds.
 |
| Jimmy Alapag soars for a rare easy lay-up against Hong Kong. |
The day ended with South Korea, fresh from watching
Gilas Pilipinas struggle against lowly Hong Kong, not wasting any time in
disposing of the also-ran Indians, 95-54. This victory formalized Korea as the
#2 team in Group F, setting a quarterfinal knockout clash against dangerous
Qatar. Cho Sung-Min and Kim Min-Goo led Korea with 14 points each. That
sweet-shooting duo connected on 7 of Korea's 11
triples. Youngster Choi Jun-Yong also did well with 13 markers in just
16 minutes, while veteran duo Lee Seung-Jun and Yang Dong-Geun contributed 10
points apiece. Coach Scott Fleming, meanwhile, got 18 points out of Pratham
Singh. India now faces Japan in the first phase of the crossover battles for
9th-12th places.
 |
| Lee Seung-Jun slams one home over Amrit Pal Singh of India. |
 |
| Rikin Pethani tries to back down against Kim Jong-Kyu. |
2013 FIBA Asia Championship Standings
|
Group E
|
Wins
|
Losses
|
|
Philippines
|
4
|
1
|
|
Taiwan
|
4
|
1
|
|
Qatar
|
4
|
1
|
|
Jordan
|
2
|
3
|
|
Japan
|
1
|
4
|
|
Hong Kong
|
0
|
5
|
- Team Philippines gets the #1 seed because of the
following game results and quotient indices:
Taiwan
beat The Philippines, 84-79
The
Philippines beat Qatar, 80-70
Qatar
beat Taiwan, 71-68
The
Philippine quotient is +5.
The
Taiwanese quotient is +2.
The
Qatari quotient is -7.
Therefore,
Gilas is #1, Taiwan is #2, and Qatar is #3.
|
Group F
|
Wins
|
Losses
|
|
Iran
|
5
|
0
|
|
Korea
|
4
|
1
|
|
China
|
3
|
2
|
|
Kazakhstan
|
2
|
3
|
|
Bahrain
|
1
|
4
|
|
India
|
0
|
5
|
The Knockout Round will look like this:
Friday Games
Quarterfinals:
Q1:
Philippines vs Kazakhstan
Q2:
Korea vs Qatar
Q3:
Iran vs Jordan
Q4:
Taiwan vs China
Saturday Games
Semifinals:
S1:
Winner Q1 vs Winner Q2
S2:
Winner Q3 vs Winner Q4
Consolation:
C1:
Loser Q1 vs Loser Q2
C2:
Loser Q3 vs Loser Q4
Sunday Games
Final
Round:
For 7th:
Loser C1 vs Loser C2
For 5th:
Winner C1 vs Winner C2
For 3rd:
Loser S1 vs Loser S2
Championship:
Winner S1 vs Winner S2
THE TOP THREE (3) TEAMS – Champion, Second Place, and
Third Place – will all get slots in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Madrid, Spain.
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:
JORDAN over JAPAN, 65-56
JOR 65 - Baxter 16, Hussein 15, Al Hamarsheh 10, Al Sous 9,
Hadrab 6, Zaghab 4, Al Dwairi 2, Al Najjar 1, Al Faraj 1, Abdeen 1, Abu Ruqayah
0
JPN 56 - Tsuji 14, Kurihara 8, Takeuchi 7, Hinkley 7, Sakuragi
5, Kanamaru 5, Sakurai 4, Hiejima 4, Tanaka 2, Matsui 0
QS: 15-13,
30-24, 45-35, 65-56
IRAN over KAZAKHSTAN, 85-53
IRI 85 - Haddadi 16, Afagh 15, Kamrani 11, Davoudi 7, Kardoust
7, Sohrabnejad 6, bahrami 4, jamshidi 3, Davari 3, Sahakian 2, Arghavan 2
KAZ 53 - Yargaliev 14, Sultanov 8, Lapchenko 8, Klimov 7,
Bazhkin 6, Ponomarev 5, Zhigulin 5, Murzagaliev 0, Bondarovich 0
QS: 22-15,
41-24, 70-36, 85-53
QATAR over TAIWAN, 71-68
QAT 71 - Musa 20, Hayes 13, Daoud 10, Saeed 8, Ali 7, Yousef
7, Abdi 4, El Hadary 2, Abdulla Mo 0, Baker 0
TPE 68 - Davis 23, Chen 13, Yang 7, Tien 6, Lu 6, Creighton 5,
Lee 5, Tseng 3, Lin 0, Chou 0, Tsai 0
QS: 15-15,
29-28, 49-48, 71-68
CHINA over BAHRAIN, 88-66
CHN 79 - Wang ZL 18, Guo 16, Wang ZZ 16, Zhou 9, Zhu 7, Li 5,
Sun 4, Zhang 4, Wang S 3, Chen 0
IND 45 - Singh Amj 16, Grewal 9, Singh Amr 9, Pethani 5,
Bhriguvanshi 2, Singh Y 2, Bhamara 2, Singh P 0, Kaushik 0, Singh J 0
QS: 22-14,
45-20, 60-29, 79-45
PHILIPPINES over HONG KONG, 67-55
PHL 67 - Douthit 13, Chan 12, Norwood 11, Castro 11, Tenorio
9, Pingris 6, Fonacier 2, De Ocampo 2, Alapag 1, David 0, Fajardo 0, Aguilar 0
HKG 55 - Chan S 16, Reid 12, Li 6, Wong 6, Lam 6, Fong 4, Lau
Tu 3, Chan Y 2, Lau Tz 0, Lee 0
QS: 13-19,
28-33, 46-43, 67-55
PHILIPPINES over QATAR, 80-70
PHL 80 - Douthit 19, Aguilar 14, Chan 12, Tenorio 7, Castro 7,
Alapag 5, David 5, De Ocampo 4, Norwood 3, Pingris 2, Fonacier 2, Fajardo 0
QAT 70 - Hayes 17, Saeed 13, Abdi 9, Musa 8, Daoud 8, El
Hadary 5, Yousef 4, Baker 4, Abdullah Mo 2, Ali 0, Abdullah Ma 0
QS: 20-20,
47-29, 63-44, 80-70
KOREA over INDIA, 95-54
KOR 95 - Kim MG 14, Cho 14, Choi 13, Yang 10, Lee SJ 10, Kim
JS 8, Lee JH 8, Kim JK 7, Kim SH 6, Yoon 3, Kim TS 1, Moon 1
IND 54 - Singh P 18, Pethani 11, Singh J 10, Bhriguvanshi 6,
Singh Amj 4, Bhamara 3, Singh Amr 2, Grewal, Singh Y 0
QS: 28-11,
47-22, 63-40, 95-54
Unless otherwise specified, all images are from FIBAAsia.net.
1 Comment
WIN OR GO HOME. Laban Pilipinas! #PUSO
Balas