BAHRAIN bowed to Japan 85-92 in overtime last night in their first of two final classification games in the FIBA U18 Asian Championship in Thailand.
The Bahrainis led for a majority of the contest but then allowed the Japanese to storm back in the fourth quarter. They were then outscored in the extra five-minute session 10-17, leaving them with the chance to play only for seventh place overall to end the tournament.
The nationals are set to take on South Korea today for that final classification spot. A win yesterday would have given Bahrain a chance to contest for as high as fifth overall in the championship.
Bahrain raced out to a comfortable 22-13 lead at the end of the first quarter against Japan, and then extended it to 39-26 at the end of the first half.
The kingdom’s youngsters continued to hold on to their advantage in the third period, which they stretched to 60-46 heading into the final canto, but a furious fourth quarter for the Japanese helped them find their way back and they eventually tied the proceedings at 72-apiece with a Keijiro Mitani three-pointer with two minutes left in regulation.
Mitani was not done, as he made another triple to give the Japanese a 75-72 lead, but star guard Mustafa Rashed answered for Bahrain with his own basket from beyond the arc, tying it at 75-apiece with 53 seconds to go.
Both teams would miss chances to find a winning basket and the scores remained deadlocked as the fourth quarter buzzer sounded, setting the stage for overtime.
Bahrain were first to strike in extension, and they went ahead 82-79. But then they went scoreless for about two minutes while Japan enjoyed an 11-0 run to finally take control the contest with just over 50 seconds remaining.
Rashed top scored for Bahrain in the loss with 29 points, including an impressive six three-pointers. Muzamil Hamoda added 19, Karim Aboukuora finished with 15 and Baqer Ali had 13.
Keisei Tominaga paced the Japanese with 33 points in the win, including five triples.