AMMAN (Jordan) - Saif Saleh showed maturity beyond his years as he steered Jordan to a 91-85 overtime victory over Qatar to complete the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024 Quarter-Finals ensemble before a packed Prince Hamza Hall, Friday night.
The 2.03 M (6'8") forward finished with 35 points, none more important than the dagger triple he sank right in front of Mohamed Ndao for the 89-83 lead with 50.6 seconds left to play as it doused cold water to their foes' comeback hopes.
Saleh, who scored 8 in OT, short 11-of-19 from the field - including 4-of-6 from deep - and also collected 14 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals, and 2 blocks for an efficiency of 41 to power the young Falcons to the next round of the Play-Offs.
The Jordanians will surely have their work cut out for them in the Quarters as they will be meeting defending champions Korea, who are still unbeaten in the tilt.
Hadi Alshammi delivered his own doubke-double in the victory with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Rawhi Kelani flirted with a triple-double as he finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists, adding a steal to his line as well.
Khalid Salman chipped in 10 points, spiked by a pair of triples, for the home team, who actually came back from a 13-point second-quarter deficit and led by as big as 17 points during the following period before needing to ward off Qatar.
The team from the Gulf was led by Yassin Mousa with 29 points, including the triple off a broken play that tied the game at 89-all with 1.5 ticks left in regulation that eventually sent the game into an extra period. He also had 7 steals.
Ndao, on the other hand, made 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Ziad Elgohary was the only other double-digit scorer for Qatar with 13 in the defeat.
Earlier in the day witnessed Iran show Chinese Taipei the door, 86-73, to qualify for the Quarter-Finals for the 11th consecutive time.
The young Team Melli bucked a tepid start before pouring it in the third quarter, but still needed to fend off a tough stand by their counterparts in the endgame to punch their ticket to the next round - and forge a rematch with a fellow contender.
Iran set up a duel with New Zealand in another meeting between the two countries. The also met in the Quarters in 2018, where the Junior Tall Blacks went all the way to the Final before settling for a runner-up finish to rivals Australia.
Mahdi Heydari finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists for an efficiency of 28 as he bannered the victors' balanced attack in the triumph.
Sina Mohammadi supplied 15 points. Amirmahyar Keramati had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals, while Radin Alizadeh and Pedram Fallah added 13 and 12 points, respectively, as four of the five starters finished in twin digits.
It was the troika of Heydari, Mohammadi, and Alizadeh that joined forces for a strong finish, coming through with crucial hits in the closing moments after the opposition got to within just nine twice from a lead as big as 30 points.
The other member of the first five in Salar Taheri was just a bucket short of finishing in double figures with 8 points, but made his presence felt with 15 rebounds.
Leading Chinese Taipei, on the other hand, was Liu Geng-Hao with 23 points in the loss. Huang Han-Sheng was his lone support with 17 points.
FIBA