Japan come from behind to finish 5th; Qatar end at team-best 7th

DOHA (Qatar) - Japan finish 5th with another come-from-behind win against Iran while Qatar confirm their best final standing ever in a FIBA U16 Asian Championship with win over Jordan.

Deja Vu: Japan come from behind to beat Iran to finish 5th

Japan rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Iran for a second time in this competition, 73-71.

The game was played out similar to their Group Phase clash with Japan jumping out to an early lead before seeing Iran go up ahead by as much as 11 points before the end of the first half. And just like in that first game, Japan rallied back from a 6-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the lead in the final minutes onwards to the win.

The two daggers by Japan in this game were three-point shots by Aru Takahashi (6 points, 2 three-point shots made) to over take the lead with less than two minutes left and by Ginga Sembo (24 points, led Japan) to make it a 5-point game with one minute to go.

Iman Valizadeh matched Sembo's point total of 24 points for Iran, but they struggled to overcome the 22 turnovers committed in this defeat.

Best result for Qatar with convincing win

In the Classification game for 7th place, Qatar defeated Jordan 97-75.

Qatar found themselves down by 10 points early in the game, but quickly turned things around to go up ahead in the first quarter and continued to build up their lead to the end. 

Mohamed Ndao wrapped up his second U16 Asian Championship with another big performance, posting 33 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks for 41 EFF - the second-highest ever since the statistic was officially archived in 2015. However, Qatar also had two additional players top the 20-point mark in Abdullah Yassin Mousa (26 points) and Amir Mojarradi (23 points).

Omar Hijazi was also able to conclude his debut campaign on a personal high note with 20 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 blocks, despite Jordan's loss.

Qatar's win means that finish at 7th in the Final Standings - their best result ever in three appearances in the competition. Jordan's 8th place result is also their best since the inaugural edition of the competition in 2009.

FIBA