2018 Asian Games Recap: August 16th
Three games on the third day of basketball at the Asian Games saw the first game in three-team Group D, two teams make their debut in the competition, and one of the highlight games of the tournament so far.
Here's the rundown of all the day's action:
Kazakhstan worked hard on defence, but couldn’t hold off a rampant Philippines. The Philippines were without Jordan Clarkson, but still scored early and often from close range, and as the game went on they started to run away with it. Stanley Pringle led all scorers with 18 points for the Philippines, who out-scored Kazakhstan 35-16 in the final quarter to finish off their 96-59 win.
A total of 26 threes were made in the second game of the day. Fifteen belonged to South Korea, who also showed great close-range play and teamwork over Mongolia. All of Mongolia’s starting five scored in double digits, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the powerful, high-energy basketball of the Koreans. Heo Ilyoung led all scorers with 20 points, as South Korea get their second straight win of the competition by a margin of 108-73.
Tanguy Ngombo had an amazing scoring performance with 36 points for Qatar, who came firing out of the gate and led Japan 18-6 after five minutes played. Japan responded with their play in the paint and kept the scores tight throughout a tense second period, at the end of which they led by two.
Japan then went in front by double digits with a series of unbroken scoring runs in the second half, only for Qatar to close the gap to one down the stretch. Eleven unanswered from Japan and too many missed shots from Qatar would seal the final result in this one, Japan were the winners over Qatar by 82 points to 71.
Undefeated after two wins, South Korea are now looking one of the strongest teams in the field, while Philippines' win will bolster them ahead of a match-up against China. Japan's win makes Group C all the more interesting, as they, Qatar and Chinese Taipei are all in good contention to take one of two quarter-final spots, while Hong Kong are now left with everything to do if they want to keep their hopes of advancing alive.
Men's basketball continues on August 20th, while the women's tournament resumes tomorrow. More on basketball at the Asian Games is on the event's official website.
