India edged out Palestine 73-70 thanks to the 32 points made by Amjyot Singh at 2015 FIBA Asia Championship here on Sunday.
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“Our energy guys kept us in the game”, Baldwin was quoted as saying by a sports website, clearly impressed with how Pingris, Abueva and Gabe Norwood injected the needed spunk defensively in their second half tear that turned what started as a tight match into an easy finish.
Sani Sakakini, captain of Palestine, had a game-high 27 points. Nobody outside of Abu-Shamala made a three-point basket for Palestine, with the rest of the team going 0-of-9. While both teams finished with the same group record of 2-3, India won their only head-to-head matchup and will move on to face the Pool F topper, who will be determined by the victor of the China-Qatar matchup later in the evening.
India was bigger in size and Palestine had physical advantage. “Compared to teams in the past, the key difference has been the improved showing of our big men Amjyot Singh and Amritpal Singh”. However, the hot-shooting of Philippines kicked in during the second quarter and it took a 42-36 lead into halftime. Indian head coach Sat Prakash Yadav called a time out after Palestine’s spurt, and India got rejuvenated.
The Koreans, coming off an 85-71 triumph over Lebanon, scored the game’s first eight points and led 12-2 but Qatar controlled the tempo and fought their way back, taking a 35-31 advantage to half-time.
It took a while for the Philippines to crank up its offense, with a hard-nosed defense right from the opening tip the only thing that prevented the Indians from dominating in the first two periods.
The Filipinos struggled to break loose from the pesky Indians in the first three quarters but the fourth period proved to be an entirely different story.
India were outscored for most part of the game, but the final three minutes turned out to be crucial.
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The Persians sustained the momentum in the final quarter, and finally notched up a 23-17 victory. Gilas also defeated Hong Kong, Kuwait, Japan and defending champion Iran in its past outings.
