Syria edge UAE 76-72 to land the 9th place in FIBA Asia Championship
Basketball fans witnessed another nail biting encounter on Saturday in the FIBA Asia Championship Classification (9-12) Round. When, Syria and United Arab Emirates met in the second game of the day to battle for the ninth place
in the tournament.
Syria ousted UAE, 76-72 in this contest and gained the ninth spot in FIBA Asia Championship to finish it in style. Mahmood Osfira was the standout for Syria with his 18 points and four rebounds contribution. During his 26 minutes
stay on the floor, Osfira committed four personal fouls and gave away one turnover. He went eight of 13 from the field.
UAE grabbed the initiative right from the tip of the game. Syria also didn’t let go UAE too far and stayed within the range. The Syrians tied the scores on two occasions during the period, but enjoyed the lead once, as UAE nipped
their surge with quick retaliation, finishing the first quarter with a lead of 21-24 after ten minutes thrilling play.
UAE then led the Syrians until the mid-way in the second quarter, before Eder Arjo Georges hit the go ahead shot from the paint to give Syria a lead of 34-32, with four minutes remaining in the first half. This time Syria was able
to maintain the lead until the end of the second, as they registered an advantage of 43-39 at the halftime. Osfira, Georges and Vatche Nalbandian all posted six points apiece during the period.
Syria maintained the lead throughout the third quarter. They used a 12-6 surge to further extend their lead to55-45 with 3:37 to go in the period. Before, UAE’s Hussain Ahmed hit eight points in last 2:33 minutes of the third to
reduce the gap to six points from 10 (59-53), when the stanza ended.
Coach Goran Milijevic’s team led UAE by 59-53 into the final 10 minutes of the game, where Syrians stretched their lead to nine points with Samir Daks quick baskets. After which UAE made a 10-2 aggression that pulled the lead down
to just one (64-63) mid-way in the quarter.
However, Syria quickly saw off UAE with their brisk response to leave the Arabs stunned with their 10-0 blitz for good, as it pushed their lead to 74-63. Still Syrians had to hang tight in the finals few minutes of the game, in
order to escape with narrow margin victory (72-76) after negotiating UAE’s Mohammad Al Brake’s last three baskets.
Watche Nalabandian chipped in with 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds for Syria. Gorges supported the cause with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
From UAE, Mohamed Al Braiki responded with 18 points, 10 rebounds, three dimes, one steal and blocked one shot too. Al Braiki went five of nine from the field, in his 34 minutes stay on court.
His team-mate, Hussain Ahmed posted 19 points together with five rebounds, three assists and one steal in the losing effort.
Tags: