Lebanon prevail over Kuwait; Philippines, East Asian trio continue winning

JAKARTA (2015 FIBA Asia U16 Championship) - WABA U16 Champions Lebanon kept a feisty and fighting Kuwait at bay to enhance their Quarter-Finals chances as all the four the semi-finalists of the 2013 FIBA Asia U16 Championship maintained their winning streak on the opening day of the Second Round action.

Philippines posted their fourth win in as many days, but have a uphill task in keeping it going with games against three-times reigning champions China and Korea in the remaining games.

Japan and Taipei too are unbeaten.

Group E: Japan, Taipei keep winning as Lebanon pip Kuwait

Japan left nothing to chance or doubt in their game against Indonesia. The 2013 FIBA Asia U16 Championship third-placed team came out all guns blazing and maintained the pressure going on to win 80-39.

Japan were well served by Seiya Takahara's 17 points.

Indonesia had Hardan Noor Arighi their leader with 11points.

For the fourth time in this competition, Chinese Taipei had issues in their offense rhythm at the start of the game against Malaysia.

And for the fourth time the team managed to sort out the issues to soon to post their fourth successive win.

Taipei's 90-59 win – powered by Lin Tin-Chieh's 29 points – took them a step closer to a place in the quarter-finals.

Kalven Lim led Malaysia, who dropped to 0-3, with 19 points.

Kuwait riding on their rousing win against Malaysia, took Lebanon to task before the latter sailed through for an 81-79 win.

Salim Alaeddine's 32 points led the way for Lebanon, who are now 2-1. Kuwait drop to 1-2.

Masaed Aloutaibi led Kuwait with 29 points.

Group F: Korea back to winning; China, Philippine maintain streak

Korea, who lost their first game to China on Saturday, regained their winning touch beating Thailand 76-52.

Breaking away with a 12-0 run to close the first quarter, Korean march was never in doubt.

Lee Hyunjung's 20 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals studded Korea's win.

Korea thus improved to 2-1 with games against Philippines and Bahrain on hand.

Thailand fell to 0-3 facing an uphill task against Iraq and China.

China started slowly and even trailed 16-18 by the end of the first quarter.

Mohammad Karim’s layup extended Bahrain’s lead to four points, but immediately afterwards, China scored dozen unanswered points to close to quarter leading 36-30.

The three-time reigning champions vastly improved after the interval and limited their opponents to just 13 second half points, and went on to clinch a comfortable 84-43 victory.

Rongzhen Zhu missed a double-double by a rebound while scoring 17 points.

Rui Wang, who accounted for 9 points during China’s second-quarter run, finished with 15, while Jie Xu added 14.

Karim Aboukuora scored 15 points for the losing team.

Philippines built a six-point cushion at the end of the first quarter and maintained their hold on the game there after.

                                                                                                                Scoring the first six points of the second half, the SEABA U16 champions furthered their grip and went on to post a 78-69 win.

Philippines are now 3-0, but have games against China and Korea on hand.

Gian Mamuyac led Batang Gilas with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals.

Abdullah Abdullah posted a double-double with 28 points and 11 rebounds for Iraq, who have now gone 1-2. The WABA team now needs to win both their remaining games against Bahrain and Thailand to keep their hopes of a Quarter-Finals place alive.

13-15 Classification: Hong Kong down Bangladesh

Hong Kong, who missed out on qualifying for the Second Round to Kuwait and Malaysia in a three-way tie-breaker in Group A, overcame that disappointment and defeated Bangladesh 77-65.

Hong Kong will take on India in the play-off for the 13th place on Monday, while Bangladesh will return home from their first participation in a FIBA Asia event in more than a decade with the wooden spoon.

FIBA