Japan, New Zealand, China confirm Quarter-Finals tickets

DOHA (Qatar) - Three direct Quarter-Finals tickets are confirmed by Japan, New Zealand and China while India claim a historic win after surviving a late-game scare.

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 led the team in scoring with 23 points on 10-13 shooting while Mohammad Mahde Jalali 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 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 scoring 20 points on 10-11 shooting from the field. Ryder Cheesman 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 and Geonwoo Heo (12 points). Promising big man Mingi Kim grabbed 16 rebounds while Minjae Kim put in 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists after not playing in the first game.

Ali Altoq and Husain Alsamaheeji 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 Massamba Ndao, 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 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 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 led the team in scoring one again with 17 points, followed closely by Sinan Huan (16 points), Wenwei He (15 points), and Wenhao Fu (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.

Hot-hand in second half lifts the Philippines to win

The Philippines struggled early on, trailing to Kazakhstan at half time, but caught fire in the third quarter to win 66-42.

The game was yet another victory for the Philippines over Kazakhstan, they're fourth in as many encounters at the U16 Asian Championship. Kiefer Alas led the Philippines with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals in the win.

For more details about this game, read here.

The Philippines' victory confirmed China clinching the top spot in Group D and direct qualification to the Quarter-Finals.

India survive rally for historic win

India finally claimed their first win over Lebanon at the U16 level, surviving a furious late-game rally to win 76-69.

Riding the momentum of early hot-hand shooting, India built up a lead of as much as 26 points and seemed ready to cruise to an easy win. Lebanon had other plans, however, and cut the lead down to two points in the last moments of the game.

Lokesh Kumar Sharma showed up in the clutch for India, scoring 4 unanswered points in the final seconds to make sure this game didn't turn into a heartbreak. He end up with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals.

For more details about this game, read here.

Upcoming games (19 September)

Saudi Arabia vs Japan - 11:30 (GMT+3)
Bahrain vs New Zealand - 11:30 (GMT+3)
Sri Lanka vs India - 14:30 (GMT+3)
Jordan vs Korea - 14:30 (GMT+3)
Qatar vs Iran - 17:00 (GMT+3)
Kazakhstan vs China - 17:00 (GMT+3)
Lebanon vs Australia - 19:30 (GMT+3)
Malaysia vs Philippines - 19:30 (GMT+3)

Daily Highs

Efficiency: 34 - Jason El Dekss (LBN)
Points: 32 - Mohamed Massamba Ndao (QAT)
Rebounds: 16 - Mingi Kim (KOR)
Assists: 7 - Arian Edalatfar (IRI)
Steals: 10 - Ramy Hachem (LBN)
Blocks: 3 - Tameem Ashraf A M Abuissa (QAT), Ilya Pestov (KAZ)

Results and Fixtures

Group A
Australia vs Sri Lanka - 136-26
India vs Lebanon - 76-69

Group B
Iran vs Saudi Arabia - 106-45
Japan vs Qatar - 93-68

Group C
New Zealand vs Jordan - 119-45
Korea vs Bahrain  - 89-62

Group D
China vs Malaysia - 95-33
Philippines vs Kazakhstan - 66-42

FIBA