All hands on deck as Vietnam post historic win

ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) - Vietnam marked their return to the FIBA Asia stage in impressive fashion, dealing Tahiti a 84-41 beatdown to raise the curtains of the Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers, Thursday at the UG Arena.

The Southeast Asian squad faced early resistance from their counterparts, but did not take too long in gaining their bearings en route to a successful comeback to the regional level competition in over 50 years.

All 11 players fielded scored at least two points in the victory that also enabled Vietnam to take an early lead among the five teams in Group D.

TURNING POINT: Vietnam began to pull away in the second period, scoring 21 points while limiting the opposition to just 12 to take a 38-24 lead at the half.

The match would never be in question from that point on. The team in red did not take their foot off the pedal and even zoomed to a 16-0 run abridging the last two quarters for a 66-30 advantage with 8:25 left to play.

GAME HEROES: Three players finished in double figures in the victory, with Nguyen Huynh Phu Vinh leading the way with 20 points and 6 rebounds. Tran Khoa Dang had 17 points, as Huynh Quang Vinh chipped in 10.

STATS DON'T LIE: Vietnam shot 50.8-percent from the floor, and generated much of their offense from defense. They forced Tahiti to commit a total of 25 turnovers, which they then turned to 29 points.

UP NEXT: Both squads will take turns battling Thailand. Tahiti will have a crack at them first on Friday, November 11 in a bid to rebound from the crushing loss, and Vietnam will follow the next day November 12 in an attempt to go 2-0.

FIBA