2016 #FIBAAsiaU18 Roundup - Day 3

China celebrates after blowing out Batang Gilas.

A day after posting their first win, Batang Gilas suffered another debilitating loss, this time to the mighty Chinese on Day 3 of the 2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship. 

*The following also appears on FIBA.com.

Japan survived a late comeback to hand hosts Iran their first loss at the 2016 FIBA U18 Championship while the trio of reigning champions China, Chinese Taipei and Lebanon are all still undefeated after three days of action.


Tensho Sugimoto collected 24 points and Yudai Nishida nailed four three-pointers in tallying 18 points as Japan beat Iran 81-77 in Group B action. Japan improved to 2-1 in the group while Iran have the same record as they got 19 points from Amirhossein Azari and Amirhossein Khandanpoor chipped in 15 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. 

Tensho Sugimoto (JPN)

The game went back and forth throughout the first three quarters with Iran down 57-54 after 30 minutes. Japan opened the fourth quarter with a 12-0 run for a 69-54 advantage, and the lead grew to 73-56 with 6 minutes left. Iran raced back into the game with an 18-5 spurt to pull to within 78-74 with 17 seconds remaining. But Japan hit three of four free throws in the final 14 seconds to secure the win.

Group B is topped by Lebanon, who won their third straight game with a 103-35 blowout of Indonesia. Lebanon, who out-rebounded Indonesia 70-33 and had 64 points in the paint to 4 for Indonesia, got 19 points from Ali Mansour while Karim Zeinoun collected 18 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals, and Karl Assi chipped in 12 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. Indonesia dropped to 0-3 despite 13 points from Bagas Darmawan Hartono. 

Karim Zeinoun (LIB)

There is a three-way tie in second place in Group B at 2-1 as Korea eased past Kazakhstan 105-66. Han Seunghui 17 points paced six players in double figures and two Koreans had double-doubles in Shin Minsuk (14 points and 11 rebounds) and Seo Jeonghyeon (10 and 10). Korea nailed 10-of-18 three-pointers for 56 percent while Kazakhstan hit just 2-of-25 for 8 percent. The Kazakhs did get 19 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocks from Nikita Timofeyev. But that couldn't keep them from falling to 0-3. 

Han Seung-Hui (KOR)

China and Chinese Taipei are joint leaders of Group A with 3-0 records. The Chinese never trailed in a 95-66 win over the Philippines, out-rebounding the Philippines 61-26. Du Runwang led the way with 17 points while Wu Yujia collected 14 points and Jianiyou Taruike had 13 points and 9 rebounds. Jolo Mendoza scored 19 points in the loss for the Philippines, who are 1-2 after three games. 

Wu Yujia (CHN)

Chinese Taipei for their part got past India 93-79 as Kao Kuo-Hao and Ting Sheng-Ju both scored 16 points to lead six players in double figures while Tseng Hsiang-Chun collected 10 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks. India, who are now 1-2, wasted 21 points from Hariram Ragupathy while Vishal Kumar Gupta had 20 points and 15 rebounds.

Kao Kuo-Hao (TPE)

The final game of the day saw Iraq collect their first win as they beat Thailand 92-76 with Ihab Al-Zuhairi collecting 45 points, 24 rebounds and 3 blocks and Sajjad Al-Saedi adding 15 points in the victory to improve to 1-2. Thailand dropped to 0-3 despite 23 points from Natthaworn Banchathon and 19 from Pongsatorn Tabtim. Thailand's Justin Bassey was held scoreless but the US-born guard still chipped in 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Ihab Al-Zuhairi (IRQ)

The 2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship takes a day off on Monday before returning to action on Tuesday.


BOX SCORES:

Korea beat Kazakhstan, 105-66

China beat Philippines, 95-66

Lebanon beat Indonesia, 103-35

Chinese Taipei beat India, 93-79

Japan beat Iran, 81-77

Iraq beat Thailand, 92-76


All images are from FIBA.


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