Favored teams
China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan opened their accounts well on Day 1 of the 2014
FIBA Asia U18 Championships, while the Philippines watched intently from the
sidelines. Batang Gilas gets its first taste of the competition to day against
Jordan.
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| The 2014 FIBA Asia U18 Championships git underway yesterday! |
SCORES & RECAPS:
Day One:
CHINA over
MALAYSIA, 95-55
Zhao Rui
torched the net with 6 triples on his way to 28 points as China overpowered
Malaysia to open the tournament. The star point guard for the Big Red Machine
also had 6 rebounds and 6 assists as coach Fan Bin’s three-peat seeking
campaign began. 6’10 Zou Yuchen also did well, putting up 15 points and 8
boards for the victors. Superstar big man Zhou Qi played just 15 minutes,
registering 8 markers, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Malaysia, meanwhile, wa sled
by the 14 points and 4 treys of Wee Joon Lock, while Ting Chun Hong added 9
markers and 2 steals.
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| Wee Joon Lock pulls up against China. |
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| Zhao Rui takes it strong against Malaysia. |
KOREA over
JORDAN, 95-38
Jordan stayed
within striking distance for one whole half before Korea outscored them, 66-20,
in the last two periods to win in convincing fashion. As expected, Byeon
Jun-Hyeong led the Koreans with 15 points on top of 4 steals, while Jeon
Hyun-Woo added 14 markers, 4 boards, and 5 swipes. Big men Kim Kyung-Won and
Song Kyo-Chang, both 6’7, combined for 20 points, 20 rebounds, 10 steals, and 6
blocks to compound Korea’s dominance. On the other end, Khaled Abu-Aboud paced
Jordan with 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 rejection.
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| Byeon Jun-Hyeong goes up strong against Jordan. |
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| Song Kyo-Chang slams one home over Abdullah Al-Sawalhi. |
JAPAN over
IRAQ, 81-62
Ryosuke
Motomura, Akito Uchida, and Yuki Mikami combined to make 10 three-pointers as
Japan scrambled in the fourth quarter to break the game open and get by the
Iraqis. Ryogo Sumino was also impressive, tossing in 11 points while 6’7 Taiga
Watanabe added 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocked shots. Iraq, meanwhile
enjoyed 25 points from Jassam Al-Saadi.
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| Akito Uchida waxed hot from long distance. |
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| Jassam Al-Saadi challenges Taiga Watanabe. |
KAZAKHSTAN
over KUWAIT, 85-75
Kuwait stuck
close to the Kazkhs for the entire game, but the Middle Eastern team just
couldn’t contain the dynamic duo of Balaby Agabek and Leonid Kachaev, who
paired up for 45 points. Agabek, Kazakhstan’s 6’1 starting shooting guard, also
collared 14 rebounds while making 4 treys. 6’7 Alexander Danilchenko also did
well with 10 markers and 13 boards. Kuwait enjoyed 34 points from Hamad Hasan,
who also tallied 10 boards and 6 dimes. Moustafa Matwali, meanwhile, had 13
points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks of his own.
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| Hamad Hasan tries a reverse lay-up. |
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| Leonid Kachayev goes up and under the defense. |
QATAR over
INDIA, 86-73
Abdulrahman
Saad dropped a huge 40-point game on the Indians to lead the undermanned
Qataris to its first win of the tourney. Saad played practically the entire
game, shooting 16/33 from the field while also grabbing 6 rebounds and handing
out 8 assists. He was effectively backstopped by 6’6 Abdelrahman Abdelhaleem,
who registered 26 points on 11/21 FG shooting while also adding 10 boards. Five
players scored in double-figures for coach Jora Singh’s Indian quintet, led by
the 20 markers of Mahipal Singh, but even those weren’t enough to tow the SABA
champs to victory. Qatar is still awaiting four players to join the team — two
are still waiting to clear eligibility while two others are still on vacation.
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| Qatar pro player Abdulrahman Saad dominated India. |
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| Mahipal Singh encounters heavy traffic. |
TAIWAN over
HONG KONG, 106-83
Sun Yung-Chen
and Tseng Po-Yu combined to score 50 points, leading Taiwan past a game Hong
Kong squad. Sun also added 12 rebounds and 2 steals while star guard Tu Su-Han
shot in 4 triples on his way to 16 markers, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 2 swipes.
As for Hong Kong, Yee Fu Ho and Ka Chung On scored 21 apiece in the loss.
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| Sun Yung-Chen spots up from deep. |
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| Yee Fu-Ho led the way for Hong Kong. |
Images are from FIBA Asia.
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