China, Korea win FIBA Asia U18 openers

MANILA, Philippines – Favored teams China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan opened their accounts well on day one of the 2014 FIBA Asia U18 Championships, while the Philippines watched intently from the sidelines. Batang Gilas gets its first taste of the competition Wednesday, August 20 against Jordan.

CHINA over MALAYSIA, 95-55
Box scores
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 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Malaysia, meanwhile, was led by the 14 points and 4 treys of Wee Joon Lock, while Ting Chun Hong added 9 markers and 2 steals.

KOREA over JORDAN, 95-38
Box scores
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.

JAPAN over IRAQ, 81-62
Box scores
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.

KAZAKHSTAN over KUWAIT, 85-75
Box scores
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.

QATAR over INDIA, 86-73
Box scores
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.

TAIWAN over HONG KONG, 106-83
Box scores
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. – Rappler.com