AMMAN (Jordan) - The Prince Hamza Hall bore witness to a historic triumph as Jordan deposed Korea from their reign as champions by way of a pulsating 73-69 decision to barge into the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024 Semi-Finals, Saturday night.
The young Falcons needed to a little bit of everything on both ends in the closing moments to repel the opposition's fightback after being down by as many as 14 points on their way to ending a nearly three-decade drought in the competition.
Jordan last reached the Semis of the continental meet back in 1995 held in the Philippines, where they took home the bronze by besting Thailand.
It was also the last time that they qualified for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup and now, even the exasperating wait to get there has come to an end.
The Jordanians are bound for the 2025 edition of the global conclave as well, as they completed the 4-team ensemble set to represent Asia in the tilt to be played in Switzerland following the win. They are joining China, New Zealand, and Australia.
Omar Salman top-scored for the home team with 21 points on a 5-of-7 clip from beyond the arc and 5 rebounds for an efficiency of 25. Rawhi Kilani, for his part, submitted a full line of 10 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a block.
Star forward Saif Saleh chipped in 10 points as well, together with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks as the troika helped do wonders to secure the W.
Kilani himself buried a booming trifecta to push their lead back up to seven, 71-64, with 2:37 left after the Koreans threatened and got to within just four.
Saleh came up big on the defensive end afterwards, hustling to swat away the three-point attempt of Lee Jewon from the left corner - much the crowd's delight.
Still, the game remained tight all the way to the end as both squads basically traded free throws, and Korea eventually cut the gap to just three with 14.5 seconds left.
However, they could no longer get any closer as the squad found it difficult to hit the mark especially from long range. It didn't help their cause, too, that another try from the outside was blocked by Omar Hijazi with 4.6 seconds left.
Shortly after, the team - and of course, the home fans inside the venue - erupted in jubilation as they attained what many of the previous batches couldn't.
Gu had 17 points to lead Korea in the heartbreaking loss. Wi Jonseok had 15 points while Park Jungwoong and Yang Jongyun added 10 apiece.
Now, Jordan will face in the Semi-Finals another tough team in Australia, which booked their ticket following a masterful 89-41 victory over Japan.
Champions of the regional tilt back in 2018, the squad showed yet again how keen it is on bringing the gold back home by sprinting to a 22-5 lead in the game's first 10 minutes - a lead which the AKATSUKI JAPAN would never recover from.
It took a bit more while for the Japanese to hit double-digit scoring as the Aussies refused to relax en route to the next round scheduled on Sunday.
Ten players chipped in at least 2 points in the conquest, with Emmett Adair showing the way with a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds, with 3 blocks. He netted an efficiency of 36, as he went nearly perfect from the field by going 9-of-10.
Jacob Furphy continued to be of help for Australia with 16 points, spiked by a pair of treys. Luke Fennell chipped in 14 points and 5 rebounds in the win that saw the squad impose their size, finishing with a total of 65 rebounds - Japan only had 29.
None from Japan, the 2022 runners-up, finished in double figures, with Leon Watanabe and Ota Fukusawa their top scorers with 8 each.
The result was a tad reminiscent of their 2018 Quarter-Final meeting, where the team from East Asia succumbed to an 88-52 loss to the eventual champs.
FIBA