China join list of teams with big wins; Australia nearly set record again

Big wins to start the day for Iran bouncing back from tough loss and New Zealand in the second gameday of the FIBA U16 Asian Championship.

Iran rebound for blowout victory

After suffering a tough loss to Japan, Iran bounced back for a resounding 106-45 win over Saudi Arabia. For Iran, Sina Mohammadi (190-G-2007) led the team in scoring with 23 points on 10-13 shooting while Mohammad Jalali (207-C-2007) led with 15 rebounds. They never trailed in this game and led for all but the first 15 seconds of the game while shooting nearly 60 percent from the field. Hamed Ehaddadi was also in attendance to support the young national team players. The Iranian legend had previously announced his retirement from national team duties at the end of the recent FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

New Zealand enjoy balanced offense in victory

New Zealand had less trouble in their second game, claiming a 119-45 victory over Jordan. All players got on the scoreboard for the Junior Tall Blacks, with 6 players scoring in double-digits and five more players scoring at least 7 points. Jackson Ball (191-G-2008) led with 15 points, coming off a perfect 5-5 shooting from the field. Each player also recorded at least 1 assist in the victory as well. As a team, New Zealand shot 64.9 percent from the field and connected on 50 percent of their three-point shots made (11 in total). New Zealand later confirmed clinching the top spot in Group C, earning a direct spot in the Quarter-Finals after Korea beat Bahrain.

Australia score second-largest margin of victory of all-time in competition

The Crocs continue to have their way in the U16 Asian Championship, this time getting a 136-26 win over Sri Lanka. It is the second-largest margin of victory in the history of the competition, only behind Chinese Taipei's 145-31 win over Bangladesh in 2015. Australia also matched their assist total from the first game with 38 which is the second most assists in a single game by a team in the U16 Asian Championship. All players Seven players scored in double-digits for the Crocs with Sa Pilimai (217-C-2007) scoring 20 points on 10-11 shooting from the field. Ryder Cheesman (193-PG-2007) was perfect in this game with 16 points on 7-7 shooting to go with 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and no turnovers.

Korea shake off slow start for big win

After taking in a heartbreaking loss in the first gameday, Korea managed to surge after a slow start for an 89-62 win over Bahrain. Korea found themselves down by 9 points in the last two minutes of the first quarter, but quickly took control. They ended that first quarter with a 10-0 run and added 6 more unanswered points to start the second quarter. They would not look back onwards to getting their first win of the competition this year. Five players scored at least 10 points for Korea, led by Jihoon Yoon (182-G-2008) and Geonwoo Heo (187-F-2008) (12 points). Promising big man Mingi Kim (192-C-2007) grabbed 16 rebounds while Minjae Kim (184-G-2007) put in 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists after not playing in the first game. Ali Altoq and Husain Alsamaheeji (164-PG-2007) both scored 17 points, leading the way for Bahrain who have now suffered two straight losses.

Japan withstand host starpower, stay undefeated

Despite another big game from Mohamed Ndao (193-G-2007), Japan were able to stay undefeated with a 93-68 win over Qatar. Japan quickly attacked with a 37-point first quarter, giving them a big enough lead to comfortably stay ahead as Qatar tried to get their way back into the game. After getting that 22-point advantage in the first interval, Japan outscored Qatar by only 3 points in the last three quarters. A large part of that was due to the performance of Mohamed Ndao, who posted another monster stat line of 32 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Japan, however, were able to go deeper into their rotation with 10 players playing at least 11 minutes each, giving them the opportunity to pounce when Mohamed Ndao was either subbed out or exhausted. The win clinches the top spot in Group B for Japan, qualifying them directly to the Quarter-Finals .

China waltz to second win over Malaysia

China continue their strong play in the FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2023, dominating Malaysia from start to finish 95-33 . All fielded players scored for China with five players scoring at least 10 points. Boyuan Zhang (203-F-2007) led the team in scoring one again with 17 points, followed closely by Sinan Huan (213-C-2007) (16 points), Wenwei He (177-G-2007) (15 points), and Wenhao Fu (203-F-2007) (15 points) The three-time champions left no room for upset, allowing Malaysia to shoot only 17.7 percent from the floor in this game. China can clinch the top spot in Group D if the Philippines win their upcoming game against Kazakhstan.
Courtesy of: fiba.basketball