FIBA Asia Championship September 20 Review: Malaysia edge Uzbekistan; Syria humble UAE (Part 1)
Malaysia 80 – Uzbekistan 75
Malaysia took a double-digit lead in the first quarter and then matched the offensive prowess of Uzbekistan in the rest of the game to notch an 80-75 win on Tuesday. Malaysia took down the Uzbek squad with their strong inside play, and a night after being mauled by Iran, they got themselves together to carve out a win.
Guganeswaran Batumalai led the Malaysian squad with 14 points to go along with six assists, two rebounds and two steals, during his 33 minutes stay on the court. Team-mate Li Wei Chee supported Batumalai with 13points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Aleksandr Kozlov was the major contributor for the Uzbek side, tallying a game-high 21 points and grasping eight rebounds. Malaysians was aggressive right from the start and by the end of the first quarter, they had established a 21-10 lead.
Staring at a double digit hole early in the game, the Uzbeks got themselves together in the second quarter and put up a better effort. Both teams tallied 23 points in the period and went into the break with Malaysia holding on to a 44-33 advantage.
The Uzbeks gave the Malaysians some early scare in the third quarter when they reeled off a 13-5 run to make it a three point game at 46-49. The Malaysians responded with 4 points in a row and after that, countered every Uzbek move to hand on to an elusive win.
Syria 80 – United Arab Emirates 73
Much like the Malaysia game, in the second contest of the day Syria defeated United Arab Emirates by taking a big lead in the first quarter and then held on to a 80-73 victory.
Ederarjo Gorges spearheaded Syria with his game-winning double-double that included17 points, 15 rebounds and four assists while Mahmoud Osfira added 14 points and eight rebounds. For United Arab Emirates, Ibrahim Ahmad was the top scorer. He punctuated a game-high 25 points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists.
The Syrians made a solid start and blew away the UAE defense to chalk out a 30-16 lead in the first quarter.
UAE came to terms with the Syrians in the second quarter and outscored them 19-18 to end the half at 48-35. They however failed to overcome the deficit in the last two quarter and lost out by 7 points.
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