India edge out Hong Kong 76-71 at FIBA Asia Championship

Iran’s junior basketball players have advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in China following a well-deserved and emphatic victory over Palestine. China is the only unbeaten team in the entire tournament.

Palestine, who won three games in a row in the first group stage, suffered the first loss at the tournament.

Gilas secured the top seed in Group E of the tournament and entered the quarterfinals after defeating India, 99-65, early this week.

In the other quarterfinal matchups, defending champions Iran will meet 2013 bronze medalists South Korea in another tough battle, while hosts China will face India.

The Chinese have beaten all of their opponents, save South Korea on Day 2, by double-digit margins.

This is going to be a huge game, undoubtedly the biggest they’ve faced although it will only get more significant from this point on. All 12 players got minutes and five of them hit double-digits in points.

Japan offset its poor shooting in the first half by dominating on the offensive boards, giving itself 10 extra second-chance scoring opportunities, mostly thanks to Takeuchi’s efforts. Lebanon finished the second round in fourth place in Group F at 2-3, tied with Jordan, but the latter ended in fifth place courtesy of Lebanon’s head-to-head advantage. He got able support from Bhriguvanshi’s 17 points, while Amrit Pal added 14 points and 9 rebounds. Jordan’s Mohammad Abdeen hit a three-pointer with 3:03 left in the contest to cut the deficit to 75-70.

Makoto Hiejima scored 13 points and Keijuro Matsui came off the bench for 12 points of his own on Monday.

Prior to today’s game against India, Philippines is coming off 4 straight victories and its first ever win against Asian giant Iran yesterday.

Despite the impressive 5-1 performance of Gilas, Baldwin reminded his players to focus on their match against Lebanon.

Against India, guard Terrence Romeo led the way, scoring 20 points, to go along with four assists and three steals. Philippines then proceeded to take over and broke the game wide open in the last two quarters, building a lead as high as 37 points.

The third quarter continued with Hong Kong leading, but India were not far behind.