China, Australia, Japan all claim important away wins

TEHRAN (Iran) & ASTANA (Kazakhstan) & MANAMA (Bahrain) - The much anticipated powerhouse clash between China and Iran in Tehran lived up to the hype with the visitors holding off a comeback attempt to win. Meanwhile, Australia took care of business against Kazakhstan to stay undefeated and Japan also won their away game.

The 81-72 victory also moved China closer to qualifying for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 from the Asian Qualifiers.

 

The first quarter was as closely contested as it would get as the home team Iran were able to stay ahead 21-20. The key advantage in the first quarter for Iran was the sharpshooting of Behnam Yakhchali who scored 11 of his 24 points in the first 10 minutes alone.

China cranked up the level of intensity in the second half, especially on the perimeter with their stars on the wing, Zhao Rui and Wu Qian who combined for 18 points in the first half. The game began to creep away from the home team after a 22-13 second quarter.

The second half continued in the same manner as China continue to stretch the floor, this time with Gu Quan getting into the mix. Iran made several attempts at closing in the gap which grew to as much 15 points, getting it down to as low as 2 points in the final minute of the game.

With the veterans struggling for most of the part, it was the youngsters Jalal Agha Miri, Sina Vahedi, and Matin Aghajanpour who sparked the comeback attempt. However, when it came down to crunch time, the seasoned veterans came back to life and made China sweat it down to the final seconds of contest.

Alas, there was not enough time left in the game for Iran to complete their comeback, leaving China to take the win right on their home court.

With the injured Zhou Qi sitting this contest out, China turned to a well-rounded offense that included five players scoring in double-digits. Among the top scorers were the long range shooters Zhao Rui, Zhou Peng, Gu Quan, and Wu Qian who combined for 9 three-pointers.

The usual star-studded trio of Iran, Yakhchali, Hamed Haddadi, and Mohammad Jamshidi, shouldered the offense as expected with a combined 50 points between themselves. However, they never really got into rhythm that could convince the fans that they deserved to win this one.

Not long after China celebrated their win in Tehran, Australia were also celebrating their win in Kazakhstan 97-50.

It was an easy win from start to finish for the Boomers as they exploded to a 26-2 start and never looked back.

All players for Australia got on the scoreboard, led by Sam Froling who had 18 points and 11 rebounds in the victory.

With the win, Australia became the next team to confirm their qualification for the upcoming World Cup next year.

The last game of the day was between Japan and Bahrain. The two teams engaged in a shootout where Japan outlasted the home team for an 87-74 win.

 

Akatsuki Japan went off to a quick start, riding the wave of 10 three-pointers in the first half to a 17-point cushion. While the lead was enough to last until the final buzzer, Bahrain did go on a huge run in the third quarter to cut the lead down to as close as 4 points.

Bahrain were sparked by the hot hand of Mustafa Rashed who had 30 points (on 6 three-pointers) and 7 assists as well as Wayne Chism's defense (15 rebonds, 3 blocks).

Nonetheless, Japan's firepower was too much to handle as they finished the game with 15 three-pointers. Tenketsu Harimoto started the game on fire to end up with 22 points (5 three-pointers) to join Yuki Kawamura as the only two Japan players with at least 20 points.

Turning point: Iran’s Sajjad Pazrofteh had a monster block on Zhou Rui in the middle of the fourth quarter, which would usually spark a fire in the hearts of the home team. Instead, it lead to a sneaky inbounds scoring possession for China and was quickly followed by a steal and dunk transition bucket in a gutwrenching four-point swing.

Of course, the big-time dagger in the final minute was the three-pointer from the corner by Wu Qian coming off a defensive lapse by the comeback-determined home team.

For Australia, there were no turning points. They came out for the game in a straight line and never looked back.

Over in Bahrain, the home team had closed in to with in 4 points near the tail end of the third quarter, but a corner three by Harimoto off a sweet Koh Flippin pass got the momentum back to Japan's side.

Game hero: We had guessed that if Zhou Qi remained unable to play in this clash against Haddadi and Iran, Wang Zhelin would have to step up to give China a good shot at winning. And step up he did.

 

Not only did Wang lead the team in scoring with 23 points on 10-16 shooting, he also had 7 rebounds and 3 steals while also bothering Haddadi as much as possible on defense.

 

It’s safe to say whatever Wang was doing on that end worked well for China.

It was a balanced effort in a big win for the Boomers, which makes it tough to point out one lone game hero. However, aside from Froling's double-double, Mitch Norton's double-sevens of points and assists was also worth pointing out as well.

Tenketsu Harimoto gets the nod as Japan's hero, not only for his sharpshooting in the early stages of the game but for his big time shot making as Bahrain were closing in as we..

Stats don’t lie: Once again, Iran clawed their way back to within as close as 2 points in the last minute. They missed 9 free-throws from a total of 22 attempts. Make one or two more of those charity stripe shots earlier in the game and the pressure might have been mounted more on China in those final moments.

But in high-stake games like these between two of the best teams in Asia, it’s not surprising that one of the biggest factors can be as small as a few simple free-throws made.

Over in Astana, Australia were doubled Kazakhstan's field goal shooting with 51.6 percent to 25 percent. There's not much you can do to overcome that.

Bahrain shot the ball well against Japan, but when you go up against Japan who will rarely cough the ball up (11 turnovers), you can't afford to commit turnovers as much as the home team did (18 turnovers).

FIBA