BASKETBALL – Bahrain youth men’s basketball national team powered into the quarter-finals yesterday in the Fiba U16 Asia Cup 2025, currently being played in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The kingdom’s squad secured their place amongst the tournament’s elite eight after outclassing their counterparts from the Philippines 79-66 at M bank arena in the Mongolian capital.
This, despite missing the services of top player Somto Patrick Onoduenyi, who is reportedly nursing an injury.
Onoduenyi has been instrumental in their run in the competition, heading into yesterday’s clash as their second-leading scorer and top rebounder and shot blocker, but his teammates stepped up yesterday for the hard-earned play-off victory.
The Bahrainis now move on to the quarters where they will take on continental powerhouses China, who had a direct berth from the preliminary round.
That game will be played today, scheduled for an 11.30am start, Bahrain time.
The Bahrainis are returning to the quarter-final stage for the first time since the 2013 edition of the championship.
In other play-off games yesterday, Chinese Taipei ousted Lebanon 97-90, South Korea routed Kazakhstan 96-48, and Iran beat Malaysia 102-62.
Chinese Taipei advanced to face off with Japan in the last eight, South Korea will take on three-time defending champions Australia, and Iran will play New Zealand.
All four quarter-final fixtures are scheduled for today, and they will set the stage for the semis tomorrow.
The gold and bronze medal affairs will then take place on Sunday, the concluding day of the competition.
The Fiba U16 Asia Cup 2025 is in its eighth edition, and it also acts as a qualifier for the Fiba U17 Basketball World Cup 2026, which will be held in Türkiye.
The top four teams from Ulaanbaatar will earn their berths in Istanbul.
Bahrain are playing in the continental competition for the sixth time and for the third straight tournament.
They secured their spot after being crowned champions of the Gulf Basketball Association qualifiers.
In their big win yesterday, Bahrain shrugged off a slow start and went on a 7-2 run, sparked by a Mohamed Adel Abdulla floater, to end the opening period, when an Ali Husain Mohamed basket with 12 seconds left gave them a slim 22-21 edge.
They rode their momentum into the second period when a Hussain Fuad Ghuloom three-pointer put them up 41-32 with three minutes to play, and they took a 42-37 advantage into the break.
After the re-start, the Filipinos battled back to tie the game at 44-all, but Bahrain responded immediately with a game-changing 7-0 surge, capped by a Ghuloom lay-up, and they never looked back from there.
An 11-0 run before the end of the third put Bahrain up by double digits, 62-47. Luisito Joel Pascual scored from long range right before the quarter buzzer to cut the nationals’ lead to 62-50 heading into the final frame.
There, Bahrain did well to maintain a comfortable gap.
Although the Filipinos made one last stand with under two minutes to go and got to within six points, 66-72, the Bahrainis scored the game’s final seven points to come away with the win.
Abdulla finished as the nationals’ leading scorer with 22 points. Hassan Abdulkadir added 15 and 12 rebounds, while Ghuloom and Mohamed also chipped in with 15 points apiece.
Ali Khalil Habib helped make up for Onoduenyi’s absence in the paint, scoring seven points and grabbing 12 boards for Bahrain.
Pascual paced the Philippines with 10 points in the loss. Jhusstin Hallare added nine while Brian Jr Orca and Everaigne Cruz added eight points apiece.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))