BAHRAIN suffered another humbling defeat in the Fiba U18 Asian Championship in Thailand yesterday, falling to Australia 42-107.
The loss was their second in a row in Group ‘C’ of the first round. They had earlier suffered a similar blowout result at the hands of New Zealand on opening day on Sunday.
The Aussies lived up to their billing as favourites in the game. Using their size and experience advantage, they built a double-digit lead early and never looked back.
Australia enjoyed a 25-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter, before going up 50-26 heading into the break. A huge third quarter where they held Bahrain to just seven and outscored them by 22 helped them go ahead 79-33 with one quarter left, and they continued to cruise in the fourth, enjoying their biggest lead of the game at 65 points with their final winning margin.
The size difference between both teams was evident in the game’s final rebounding numbers, with Australia outrebounding Bahrain 61-25 overall and 36-7 offensively. The huge discrepancy on offensive boards helped the Aussies take almost twice as many shots in the game as the Bahrainis, as they shot 43-for-39 from the field while Bahrain were just 15-of-47.
The Aussies also finished with 37 second chance points while Bahrain had five, and the Aussies also finished with 64 points in the point compared to Bahrain’s 20.
Ghanem Nawaf and Muzamil Hamoda scored eight points apiece off the bench to lead Bahrain. Only Mustafa Rashed scored more than two points from Bahrain’s starters; he finished with seven points.
Samson Froling had 21 points to pace six Australian players in double-figures. Kody Stattmann and Keli Leaupepe added 12 apiece.
In yesterday’s other Group ‘C’ game, New Zealand defeated Thailand 89-74.
The Aussies and Kiwis now face off today in their final first round fixture.
The winner seals the number one position. Winless Bahrain and Thailand battle in the other game, with the victor finishing the group stage in third place.
At the end of this preliminary stage, the top team from each group advances directly to the quarter-finals. Teams ranked two and three then play in a single-elimination round for the right to join the last eight.