The second group
stage of the 2013 FIBA Asia U16 Championships in Tehran, Iran continued with
heavy favorite China leaving home side Iran in the dust and the Philippines
giving Japan a thorough beating.
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| Jolo Mendoza coasts to the hoop as the Filipinos hand the Japanese a severe beating. |
In the first
game of the day, Korea rebounded from its shock loss to Bahrain the previous
day by venting its frustrations on a hapless Syrian side, 116-82. Five Koreans
finished in double-figures, with Yang Jae-Huk’s 26 points leading the way. Choi
Jae-Hwa backed him up with 24 markers, while Kwon Hyeok-Joon added 18 points, 8
assists, and 5 steals. Korea is now 3-1 in the second round, and they hope to
end the eliminations strong by hoping to beat China next. Khalel Khori led
Syria with 19 points and 8 boards, while Mohamad Hadri dropped 11 markers and
grabbed 13 rebounds. The Syrians drop to 1-3 and are in danger of not advancing
to the quarterfinals.
The second
game of the day featured the Philippines inflicting an unlikely beating on the
erstwhile undefeated Japanese quintet, 94-76. Coach Jamike Jarin’s wards led
practically all the way in this one, what with the Pinoys outshooting and
outworking their more ballyhooed EABA counterparts. Japan entered this matched
without a loss in its first three outings, but coach Takashi Ideguchi’s boys
failed to find a spark against a more aggressive Pinoy five. Japanese-African
spearhead Rui Hachimura was limited to 2/9 FG shooting here, finishing with a
pedestrian 11-point scoring output. Hayato Maki and Yutaro Hayashi led the
Nippon squad with 16 and 15 points respectively. Over on the winning team, Mike
Nieto played bigger than he actually is, scoring 21 points and collaring 12
caroms, while Paul Desiderio and Jolo Mendoza tossed in a combined 35 markers. Desiderio
also added 9 rebounds and 3 steals to his tally. The Pinoys can seal at least
the second seed should they win against India next, while a win by Japan over
Taiwan can even bump them up to first (depending on the resulting quotient).
The third game
saw how Bahrain went 2-0 in the second round, beating Malaysia, 94-83, a day
after their masterful upset of the Koreans. Three players scored in the
twenties for Turkish coach Orhan Guler. Mohamed Juma, again, was splendid with
25 points, 20 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, while Sadiq Hasan added 23
points, 15 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 rejections. Mohamed Ghazwan shone, too,
with 21 markers, 4 assists, and 2 thefts. Slowly, the Bahrainis are emerging as
legitimate threats in this tournament. On the other hand, the Malaysians
absorbed yet another defeat as their hopes of breaking into the Final 8
vanished. Heng Yee Tong, Foo Ting Jun, and Chong Koon Wei all scored in
double-digits with 19, 18, and 16 points respectively.
In the day’s
fourth game, Chinese-Taipei remained unscathed after disposing of Jordan, 81-68.
Tu Su-Han proved to be a masterful scorer anew, recording 18 points while team
captain Chang Chun-Ting added 16 markers on the strength of 4 triples. Wu
Yen-Ju dropped 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists even as Huang Chien-Chih
and Tung Chin-Chia anchored the middle with a combined 16 points and 19 boards.
Taiwan can sweep the second round if they beat Japan next. Jordan, on the other
hand, should win on Day 6 to stay alive for a quarterfinal slot. Yazeed Hijazi
and Mohammad Daher led the WABA team here with 19 and 17 markers respectively.
In game number
five, the Chinese continued to steamroll the competition by blasting the
Iranians, 77-51. The home squad was limited to 28% FG shooting and was
outrebounded, 32-51, by a taller and more talented Chinese side. Not
surprisingly, it was Hu Jinqiu who led the way again with 33 big points on top
of 21 rebounds and 4 blocks, while fellow big man Fu Hao registered 16 markers
and 8 boards. This win assured coach Liu Jizeng’s wards of the top seed in
Group E heading into the crossover quarterfinals. Iran, meanwhile, was left in
the shadow of uncertainty after this loss, which is already their second in the
tournament. Seyed Seyedi was the lone bright spot for coach Ali Towfigh,
finishing with 10 points and 5 assists. No other Iranian broke the double-digit
barrier.
For the final
match, the Indians staved off a late rally by the Kazakhs to pull out a close
win, 68-65. Mahipal Singh proved again that he was the best Indian cager here,
dropping 22 points on their Central Asian rivals. He also added 3 steals and 2
blocks to balance out his game-high 11 turnovers. 6’1 forward Sunil added 16
points, 8 boards, and 3 steals as coach Raghavendra Singh Gour’s boys game
themselves an outside shot at making the QFs should they pull of an unlikely
upset of the Philippines in their next match. The Kazakhs, meanwhile, were led
by the 15 points of Valentin Kirilin, while 6’7 Konstantin Neff impressed again
with an 11-point and 14-rebound double-double.
BOX SCORES:
KOREA over SYRIA,
116-82
KOR 116 – Yang JH 26, Choi 24, Park SK 19, Kwon
18, Mun 13, Yang JM 6, Yun DB 3, Han 3, Yun WS 2, Park JC 2, Park MU 0, Lee 0
SYR 82 – Khori 19, Egho 13, Diab 12, Hadri 11,
Shammas 10, Al Majzob 10, AL Kerawan 5, Tarzikhan 2, Akhdir 0, Hadad 0, Balkes
0, Kurd
QS: 30-19, 56-38, 85-61, 116-82
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| Khalel Khori is a rising star for Syria. |
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| Park Sang-Kwon goes for the lay-up. |
PHILIPPINES over
JAPAN, 94-76
PHL 94 – Nieto Mi 21, Desiderio 19, Mendoza 16,
Nieto Ma 13, Escoto 8, Padilla 6, Dela Cruz 5, Go 3, Abadeza 3, Dario 0,
Navarro 0, Panlilio 0
JPN 76 – Maki 16, Hayashi 15, Hachimura 11, Nomi
10, Maeta 8, Hiraiwa 8, Taira 6, Muto 2, Igarashi 0, Kono 0, Gunji 0
QS: 23-16, 42-34, 78-53, 94-76
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| Satoru Maeta shoots over the Philippine defense. |
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| Paul Desiderio slashes aggressively to the hole. |
BAHRAIN over MALAYSIA,
94-83
BRN 94 – Juma 25, Hasan 2, Ghazwan 21, Kadhem 8,
Al Waddaei 5, Husain 3, Shakeeb 3, Al Musalli 2, Baqer 2, Mohamed 2, Al Madeh
0, Khamis 0
MAS 83 – Heng 19, Foo 18, Chong 16, Soong 8,
Chang 8, Yek 4, Lau 4, Tan 3, Lim 3, Wong 0, Liew 0, Rosli 0
QS: 24-17, 54-35, 74-57, 94-83
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| Mohamed Ghazwan challenges Malaysia's interior defense. |
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| Lim Zong Hao shoots in traffic. |
TAIWAN over JORDAN,
81-68
TPE 81 – Tu 18, Chang 16, Wu YJ 11, Huang 10,
Hsu 7, Tung 6, Sun 5, Chan 5, Chen 3, Wu CY 0, Lan 0, Liu 0
JOR 68 – Hijazi 19, Daher M 17, Abu Aboud 10, Al
Abed 7, Al Battikhi 5, Al Jadidi H 4, Daher A 4, Al Taher2, Al Bdour 0, Jumean
0, Al Jadidi R 0
QS: 24-13, 45-36, 69-49, 81-68
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| Yazeed Hijazi rises to the basket. |
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| Tu Su-Han is one of the tournament's deadliest scorers. |
CHINA over IRAN,
77-51
CHn 77 – Hu 33, Fu 16, Luo 8, Zhao 6, Liu 6, Xu
6, Yuan 2, Zhang 0, Wang C 0, Wang Z 0
IRI 51 – Seyedi 10, Naziri 9, Farhadi 9, Azari
7, Meraji 6, Baban 6, Razeghin 4, Azizi 0, Poat 0
QS: 24-14, 34-25, 61-38, 77-51
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| Seyed Seyedi pulls up against the Chinese. |
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| Luo Yongxuan coasts to the hole in transition. |
INDIA over KAZAKHSTAN,
68-65
IND 68 – Singh M 22, Sunil 16, Tudu 11,
Kanderiya 6, Hooda 5, nehla 4, Singh P 2, Briggs 2, Pandit 0
KAZ 65 – Kirilin 15, Aitkali 12, Neff 11,
Voronushkin 10, Kadyr 6, Litvinenko 5, Korzhov 3, Danilchenko 2, Levakovskiy 1,
Kurochkin 0, Satkeyev 0
QS: 11-13, 27-29, 49-40, 68-65
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| Rahul Mehla goes up strong. |
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| Valentin Kirilin pulls away from Mahipal Singh. |
Unless
otherwise specified, all images are from Milad Payami/FIBAAsia.net.
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