AMMAN (Jordan) - New Zealand stayed spotless in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024 following an 83-49 drubbing of Indonesia, Tuesday at the Prince Hamza Hall.
In a stark contrast to their character-testing win against Jordan, the Junior Tall Blacks only needed little time to break the game wide open to eventually capture their second win in as many games for the provisional lead in Group D.
The crew actually trailed by a field goal about 3 minutes into the match, but soon got into the flow and unloaded 18 unanswered points to finish the first up, 22-6, setting up the one-sided affair as the young Timnas found no answer to that run.
Tamatoa Isaac led New Zealand with all-around numbers of 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, plus 4 steals in 20 minutes to net an efficiency of 20.
Carter Hopoi, who scored the first 4 of the aforementioned run, finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Dov Silberstein supplied 13 as well with 5 boards.
Kahu Treacher had 11 points and 6 rebounds while Ezrah Eagle chipped in 10 in the win that saw the team collar 58 rebounds - 28 more than the other side.
Meanwhile, the gracious hosts broke through the win column after foiling the late-game comeback attempt of the Philippines, 62-56.
The young Falcons overcame a narrow deficit in the third and even led by double digits during the deciding frame, but needed to fend off a rally by Gilas as the team showed they can close out games, too, after falling short to New Zealand.
Saif Al-Deen Saleh led the home team with a huge double-double of 14 points and 15 rebounds to set 19 EFF. Rawhi Zeid Kilani came through with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists while Hadi Ammar Alshami added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Saleh and Alshami sustained the lead for Jordan after Omar Hijazi gave them the lead for good via free throws to conclude the third canto in their favor, 45-40.
Soon, their lead would rise to 12 points after a 7-0 run to open the fourth. But then, the Philippines staged a rally and got to as close as three points, 56-59, following a run of their own capped off by a a Mark Esperanza basket with under a minute left.
Gilas, though, could no longer find the mark afterwards, and both Salman and Khaled Salman would apply the final blows through free throws in the final 41 seconds.
Esperanza was the lone double-digit scorer for the Philippines with 14 points and 6 rebounds in the loss that dropped their record to 1-1.
FIBA