It was a roller-coaster day in Asian hoops, with the
enigmatic Lebanese at the center of the whirlwind. The day started with Lebanon
receiving word that they got suspended by FIBA only to find out by the day’s
end, when they had reportedly already bought tickets back to Beirut, that FLB
officials got their acts together to barely stave off suspension and,
consequently, keep LIB’s slot in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships in Manila.
All of these, strangely enough, transpired without any official statement being
released by FIBA or FIBA Asia. As of now, Lebanon is still one of the 16 teams
who will compete for 3 slots in the 2014 FIBA World Cup.
Phew. Can we go to the games now? Okay. Good.
 |
| Tien Lei gets a hand on his face, literally, courtesy of Rouzbeh Arghavan. (image from Da Village) |
In the first game of the day, the Lebanese played
lethargic ball and succumbed to the Americans, 109-66. Fadi El Khatib didn’t
see action here, and Loren Woods was the only starter who played more than 10
minutes. Six Americans scored in double-figures here, led by Eric Hicks’s 23
points and 9 rebounds. Haywood Owens hit two triples on his way to 18 points,
while Jermaine Dailey added 16 markers and 8 boards. The Cedars’ losing cause
was spearheaded by Amir Souaid’s 23 points, while Bachi Ammoury and Ali Haidar
each netted 14 markers. The US hiked its record to 4-3, while Lebanon dropped
to 2-5.
 |
| Jermaine Dailey slams one home against the hapless Lebanese. |
 |
| Ali Mahmoud goes up for a reverse against Team USA. |
The second game of the day featured Egypt get past
Taiwan B thanks to a great fourth quarter, 81-69. Ibrahim El Gammal continued
to torch the nets, scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for the African
nation. He also had 2 steals and hit 2 triples. Backing him up was Assem Marei,
who scored 18 points on top of 13 rebounds in just 19 minutes off the bench. Taiwanese
hotshot Liu Cheng, who has turned many heads in the tournament, led the home
squad with 26 points, while Chang Chia-Jung added 18 markers an 4 thefts. Egypt
moved up to third place ahead of Taiwan A, while Taiwan B remained just a spot
above the Japanese in the standings.
 |
| Taiwan B ace Liu Cheng gets trapped by Team Egypt. (image from Da Village) |
In the third game, Jordan wiggled loose from a tight
encounter and eventually defeated the hard-luck Japanese, 74-65. Jordan limited
their EABA counterparts to only 9 points in the payoff period and scored 18 of
their own to get some separation. Jimmy Baxter and Wesam Al Sous combined to
hit 5 treys and 29 points off the bench for Al Nashama, who have struggled in
the tournament because of the absence of key veterans, namely Sam Daghlas and
Zaid Abbas. Japan actually played well here, outrebounding Jordan and forcing
more turnovers from their foes, but Team Hayabusa just shot blanks in the
fourth quarter. Kosuke Kanamaru hit 5 triples on his way to 28 points, but he
couldn’t find the mark in the final frame. Yeoman Kosuke Takeuchi also did well
with 13 points and 8 boards, but it’s clear that he won’t be able to do the job
alone. It is expected that his main frontline partners – JR Sakuragi and twin
brother Joji Takeuchi – will play alongside him in Manila. This was Jordan’s
third win and Japan’s seventh straight loss.
 |
| Not even the hot hands of Kosuke Kanamaru could life Japan over Jordan. (image from the JBA) |
The day ended with Taiwan losing a close one to Iran,
72-67. Team Melli was actually comfortably ahead heading into the fourth
quarter, 59-43, but the hometeam didn’t want to give the Jones Cup title on a
silver platter. They fought hard in the final stanza and nearly took the game
away. Once again, the duo of Lin Chih-Chieh and Quincy Davis proved to be
potent for Taiwan, pairing up for 24 points and 9 rebounds. Lin also hit 3
triples. They got ample support from Tseng Wen-Ting, Tien Lei, and Tsai
Wen-Cheng, all of whom combined for 32 markers. Outside shooting, however, did
the Taiwanese in, as they only managed to hit 6 of their 24 attempts from
downtown. Iran was led by Hamed Haddadi, who registered a 17-point, 11-rebound
double-double. Samad Nikkhah Bahrami bucked a sore ankle to score 11 points,
while Oshin Sahakian added 14 markers and 8 caroms. With Arsalan Kazemi still
busy in the States, it is expected that Sahakian will take his starting spot in
Manila. Iran, by virtue of going 7-0 after this triumph, has officially won the
2013 Jones Cup, which is their fourth in the last five years. Gilas Pilipinas broke
the streak by winning it last year. Taiwan absorbed its third loss in seven
games and moved half a game behind Egypt.
 |
| Tsai Wen-Cheng goes up strong against Team Iran. (image from Da Village) |
2013 William Jones Cup Standings
Team
|
Wins
|
Losses
|
Iran
|
7
|
0
|
Korea
|
6
|
1
|
Egypt
|
5
|
3
|
Taiwan A
|
4
|
3
|
USA
|
4
|
3
|
Jordan
|
3
|
4
|
Lebanon
|
2
|
5
|
Taiwan B
|
1
|
6
|
Japan
|
0
|
7
|
BOX
SCORES:
USA over LEBANON 109-66
USA 109 - Hicks 23, Owens 18, Dailey 16, Marshall 13,
Vanlandingham 11, Rougeau 10, Horton 8, Kearse 6, Barnes 2, Awere 2, Bray 0,
Melvin 0
LIB 66 - Saoud 21, Amoury 14, Haidar 14, Akl 6, Woods 4,
Ibrahim 3, Souaid 2, Kanaan 2, Mahmoud 0, El Khatib H 0, Abdel Nour 0
QS: 28-9,
52-28, 77-46, 109-66
EGYPT over TAIWAN B, 81-69
EGY 81 - El Gammal 27, Marei 18, Abdalla S 10, Khalifa 7,
Khorshid 6, Abou Shousha 5, El Lethi 4, Abdalla R 2, Abou Khadra 2, El Sabagh M
0
TPE B 69 - Liu C 26, Chang 18, Chen TY 5, Lo 5, Lin 4, Huang 4,
Chen KC 3, Tsai 2, Chen HJ 2, Chiang 0, Hu 0, Liu YK 0
QS: 23-14,
42-32, 54-53, 81-69
JORDAN over JAPAN, 74-65
JOR 74 - Baxter 19, Al Sous 10, Al Najjar 9, Hadrab 8, Abdeen
8, Al Hamarsheh 8, Al Faraj 5, Bassam 3, Shaher 2, Zaghab AJ 2, Abu Ruqayah 0,
Al Dwairi 0
JPN 65 - Kanamaru 28, Takeuchi 13, Ota 9, Hiejima 5, Hinkley
4, Sakurai 3, Tanaka 2, Kurihara 1, Watanabe 0, Matsui 0
QS: 18-17,
35-34, 56-56, 74-65
IRAN over TAIWAN A, 72-67
IRI 72 - Haddadi 17, Sahakian 14, Bahrami 11, Afagh 11,
Kardoust 6, Arghavan 6, Kamrani 5, Davari 2, Sohrabnejad 0, Davoudi 0, Jamshidi
0
TPE A 67 - Lin 12, Davis 12, Tseng 11, Tien 11, Tsai 10, Yang 9,
Lee 0, Lu 0, Hung 0, Chou 0, Creighton 0, Chen 0
QS: 17-17,
36-32, 59-43, 72-67
Unless otherwise specified, all images are from
2013wjc.basketball-tpe.org.
0 Comment