TIANJIN (FIBA Asia Championship) - Philippines scored a psychologically important 78-69 triumph over Japan, in Group A, as the curtains came down on the second day of the 25th FIBA Asia Championship on Friday.
Philippines thus joined Jordan, Korea, Iran, Qatar and hosts China as the teams to win both their games so far as the picture on the eight-final round began to form.
Philippines now take on Korea – who began the day whipping Sri Lanka 122-54 – on Saturday in a clash which will decide the Group A toppers.
Japan and Sri Lanka have lost both their games, will play each other to decide the third team to qualify from this Group.
In Group B action, Iran looked far better than their opening game while beating Uzbekistan 82-61 and Chinese Taipei outpaced Kuwait to win 73-51.
Iran, thus have won both their games, while Chinese Taipei and Kuwait are 1-1. Uzbekistan are yet to win a game.
In Group C, Hosts China gave a lot to the crowd to cheer in their 74-56 win against last edition’s semifinalists Kazakhstan and Qatar emerged a runaway 95-70 victors over India.
China and Qatar – both win two wins apiece – will face off to decide the top team in Group C on Saturday, while Kazakhstan will play India looking for their first win.
In Group D, Jordan took Indonesia in their stride with a 105-47 result and Lebanon, inspired by Fadi El Khatib’s return to form defeated United Arab Emirates 108-38.
Unbeaten Jordan take on UAE – with one win and one loss – on the morrow with the winless Indonesia playing Lebanon.
Group A
“This is a huge win for us… to beat Japan is really tremendous,” beamed Philippines coach Joseller Guiao after his team’s win.
Gunther Thoss sparked the Filipino rally scoring 11 of his 15 points for the game in the second half.
Pauliasi Taulava scored all his 11 points in the second half – nine of them in the final quarter – to strengthen Thoss’ efforts.
Having trailed Japan for most of the game, Philippines took charge of the proceedings after Cyrus Baguio drove in the lane to convert towards the end of the third quarter and never looked back.
Japan withered as Philippines flourished.
Daiji Yamada led the Japanese scoring with 16 points and Kosuke Takeuchi had 14.
Korean centre Ha Seung-jin continued to scare the opponents with his 213-cm presence, and returned a 4/5 record in field attempts for his 13 points.
Lee Kyu Sup top scored the game with 28 points and Bang Sung-Yoon had 24.
Yasarathne De Silva was the highest scorer for Sri Lanka with his 14 points.
Group B
Mahdi Kamrani was the hero in Iran’s second successive win.
Kamrani, who had only four points to show in the opening game win over Chinese Taipei, had a field day with a 63.6% record on the field (7/11) including converting two of his three three-pointer attempts.
Adding value to the Mahram player’s contribution was the two assists and the six steals.
Samad Nikkah was as consistent as ever and had 18 points.
Vyacheslav Denisov was the highest scorer for Uzbekistan with 13 points.
Chinese Taipei had no trouble whatsoever against Kuwait.
A 13-0 run midway through the first quarter perching them firmly ahead, the East Asian nation emerged runaway winners.
Yang Chin-Min led the Taipei charge with his game-high 24 points.
Chang Chi-Feng and Lee Hsueh-Lin chipped in with 11 points each.
Mohammad Ashkanani was their leading scorer with 13 points.
Group C
China and Qatar won without much ado to set up a Saturday clash which will decide the Group toppers.
China opened up the game against Kazakhstan midway through the first half with a 20-4 run and hung on to that advantage.
Current NBA player Yi Jianlian and China’s first ever NBA player Wang Zhi Zhi shared the scoring honours for the game with 17 points apiece.
Wang Zhi Zhi also collected a game-high 14 rebounds. Wang Shipeng converted three of his six three-pointer attempts to return 15 points.
Anton Ponomarev led the scoring for Kazakhstan with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Rustam Yargaliyew had 14 points and junior star Alexander Tyutyunik converted three of his five three-pointer attempts for his 11 points.
India did well to keep pace with Qatar till midway through the first quarter, but could not sustain themselves when the GCC champions pressed the gas.
Daoud Mousa led the Qatari charge with 20 points and Saad Ali contributed 18.
Talwinderjit Singh led India’s scoring with 17 points.
Group D
Both Lebanon and Jordan carried the hangover of their overnight game into Friday’s games too.
Jordan, rested most of their starters for most of the game and yet proved far ahead than Indonesia.
Jordan coach Mario Palma Palma gave his bench all the feel of the court – using his starters only to give the bench a breather – after taking a 21-17 lead to end the first quarter.
Islam Abbas made the best use of the opportunity of the extended time on court with a game-high 22 points.
Mohammad Hadrab had a 7/11 record on the field and finished with 16 points.
No Indonesian player scored in double-digits.
Spearhead Fadi El Khatib and Jackson Vroman struck in unison as Lebanon regained their winning touch.
Fadi and Vroman shared the scoring honours for the game with 19 points apiece.
Fadi returned a 67% scoring record in the field (8/12), including converting one of his two three-pointer attempts.
Vroman, naturalized recently by Lebanon, had an 8/9 field record and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds – five in defence.
Matt Freije, like Vroman a 2004 NBA draftee, also collected seven rebounds and accounted for 15 points.
Talal Alnuaimi was the highest scorer for UAE with 13 points.
S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia
Philippines now take on Korea – who began the day whipping Sri Lanka 122-54 – on Saturday in a clash which will decide the Group A toppers.
Japan and Sri Lanka have lost both their games, will play each other to decide the third team to qualify from this Group.
In Group B action, Iran looked far better than their opening game while beating Uzbekistan 82-61 and Chinese Taipei outpaced Kuwait to win 73-51.
Iran, thus have won both their games, while Chinese Taipei and Kuwait are 1-1. Uzbekistan are yet to win a game.
In Group C, Hosts China gave a lot to the crowd to cheer in their 74-56 win against last edition’s semifinalists Kazakhstan and Qatar emerged a runaway 95-70 victors over India.
China and Qatar – both win two wins apiece – will face off to decide the top team in Group C on Saturday, while Kazakhstan will play India looking for their first win.
In Group D, Jordan took Indonesia in their stride with a 105-47 result and Lebanon, inspired by Fadi El Khatib’s return to form defeated United Arab Emirates 108-38.
Unbeaten Jordan take on UAE – with one win and one loss – on the morrow with the winless Indonesia playing Lebanon.
Group A
“This is a huge win for us… to beat Japan is really tremendous,” beamed Philippines coach Joseller Guiao after his team’s win.
Gunther Thoss sparked the Filipino rally scoring 11 of his 15 points for the game in the second half.
Pauliasi Taulava scored all his 11 points in the second half – nine of them in the final quarter – to strengthen Thoss’ efforts.
Having trailed Japan for most of the game, Philippines took charge of the proceedings after Cyrus Baguio drove in the lane to convert towards the end of the third quarter and never looked back.
Japan withered as Philippines flourished.
Daiji Yamada led the Japanese scoring with 16 points and Kosuke Takeuchi had 14.
Korean centre Ha Seung-jin continued to scare the opponents with his 213-cm presence, and returned a 4/5 record in field attempts for his 13 points.
Lee Kyu Sup top scored the game with 28 points and Bang Sung-Yoon had 24.
Yasarathne De Silva was the highest scorer for Sri Lanka with his 14 points.
Group B
Mahdi Kamrani was the hero in Iran’s second successive win.
Kamrani, who had only four points to show in the opening game win over Chinese Taipei, had a field day with a 63.6% record on the field (7/11) including converting two of his three three-pointer attempts.
Adding value to the Mahram player’s contribution was the two assists and the six steals.
Samad Nikkah was as consistent as ever and had 18 points.
Vyacheslav Denisov was the highest scorer for Uzbekistan with 13 points.
Chinese Taipei had no trouble whatsoever against Kuwait.
A 13-0 run midway through the first quarter perching them firmly ahead, the East Asian nation emerged runaway winners.
Yang Chin-Min led the Taipei charge with his game-high 24 points.
Chang Chi-Feng and Lee Hsueh-Lin chipped in with 11 points each.
Mohammad Ashkanani was their leading scorer with 13 points.
Group C
China and Qatar won without much ado to set up a Saturday clash which will decide the Group toppers.
China opened up the game against Kazakhstan midway through the first half with a 20-4 run and hung on to that advantage.
Current NBA player Yi Jianlian and China’s first ever NBA player Wang Zhi Zhi shared the scoring honours for the game with 17 points apiece.
Wang Zhi Zhi also collected a game-high 14 rebounds. Wang Shipeng converted three of his six three-pointer attempts to return 15 points.
Anton Ponomarev led the scoring for Kazakhstan with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Rustam Yargaliyew had 14 points and junior star Alexander Tyutyunik converted three of his five three-pointer attempts for his 11 points.
India did well to keep pace with Qatar till midway through the first quarter, but could not sustain themselves when the GCC champions pressed the gas.
Daoud Mousa led the Qatari charge with 20 points and Saad Ali contributed 18.
Talwinderjit Singh led India’s scoring with 17 points.
Group D
Both Lebanon and Jordan carried the hangover of their overnight game into Friday’s games too.
Jordan, rested most of their starters for most of the game and yet proved far ahead than Indonesia.
Jordan coach Mario Palma Palma gave his bench all the feel of the court – using his starters only to give the bench a breather – after taking a 21-17 lead to end the first quarter.
Islam Abbas made the best use of the opportunity of the extended time on court with a game-high 22 points.
Mohammad Hadrab had a 7/11 record on the field and finished with 16 points.
No Indonesian player scored in double-digits.
Spearhead Fadi El Khatib and Jackson Vroman struck in unison as Lebanon regained their winning touch.
Fadi and Vroman shared the scoring honours for the game with 19 points apiece.
Fadi returned a 67% scoring record in the field (8/12), including converting one of his two three-pointer attempts.
Vroman, naturalized recently by Lebanon, had an 8/9 field record and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds – five in defence.
Matt Freije, like Vroman a 2004 NBA draftee, also collected seven rebounds and accounted for 15 points.
Talal Alnuaimi was the highest scorer for UAE with 13 points.
S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia
