2013 FIBA Asia Championship: Jordan books last quarterfinals berth at Japan's expense

(Updated 12:25pm) Jordan completed the quarterfinals cast of the 2013 FIBA Asia Tournament by beating Japan, 65-56, on Wednesday at the MOA Arena.

Both teams entered the game with 1-3 records in Group E. Jordan's triumph put them at 2-3 afterwards, with Japan sinking to 1-4, joining 0-4 Hong Kong, which will still play the Philippines on Wednesday evening, as the two eliminated squads.

Jimmy Baxter and Mohammad Shaher Hussein helped Jordan pull away in the third quarter, to establish some distance between the two teams.

Although the Jordanians struggled with their shots in the fourth quarter, Japan also could not get anything going on offense. The latter squad was within seven late in the game, but a clutch three-pointer by Ahmad Alhamarsheh made it a 10-point affair with a little over two minutes remaining in the fourth, 55-45.

A split at the line by Jordan's Mohammad Hadrab was met by a second-chance bucket by Takahiro Kurihara, 56-47, under a minute left. Now forced to foul, Jordan's ability to put free throws was put to the test, but they converted just enough, combined with a clear path foul on Jimmy Baxter with 17.5 ticks left, to pick up the win.

The victory makes it the sixth straight time Jordan will compete in the quarterfinals round, drawing Iran in the knockout stage of the tourney. Jordan-Iran will be a rematch of the 2011 quarterfinals. In that game, Jordan defeated Iran 88-84 with the help of Zaid Abbas and Sam Daghles, players who are no longer suiting up for their national team.

“We know Iran very well and Iran knows us very well because we play all the time,” said Wisam Al-Sous after the game. “We’ll be prepared for the game against them and if we play together for 40 minutes, I think we can beat them.”

Japan on the other hand will still play in the classification matches.

Jordan started their game on a good note as Ahmad Al Dwairi found himself all alone down low for a two-handed dunk. Jimmy Baxter then sank a mid-range jumper for an early 4-0 lead.

A free throw from JR Sakuragi at the 8:41 mark of the first finally allowed Japan to break into the scoring column. They got to the free throw line four more times to grab a 7-6 lead with 4:51 left in the first.

Ryota Sakurai drove beautifully in the lane at the 2:43 mark of the first and dished out a perfect pass to Takahiro Kurihara. The basket gave Japan an 11-8 lead. However, it didn't last, as Wesam Al-Sous sank a buzzer-beating triple to end the first quarter with Jordan on top, 15-13.

Another triple by Jordan gave them a 22-17 lead with 7:31 left in the second period.

The Jordan lead was at six points when Sakuragi scored down low at the 2:33 mark of the second. Al-Sous and Mohammed Hadrab then hit twice for Jordan before Makoto Hiejima closed out the quarter with two free throws, 30-24 in favor of Jordan.

Jordan import Jimmy Baxter led all scorers at the half with eight points. Mohammad Shaher Husserin added four points and grabbed eight rebounds.

JR Sakuragi and Hiroshi Ichioka scored five points each to lead Japan.

The Jordanians went on a run 7-0 to start the third quarter capped by a follow-up by Hussein. It forced Japanese head coach Kimikazu Suzuki to call a timeout with still 7:36 left in the third quarter.

A free throw from Sakurai was followed by three more baskets from Hussein to build a 43-25 lead for Jordan. Naoto Tsuji finally stopped Jordan’s run with back-to-back triples to bring the lead down to 12 points at 43-31, with 2:22 left in the third.

Hiroshi Ichioka closed out the third quarter with a tip-in to bring down Jordan’s lead to 10 at 45-35.

Japan stepped up their defense early in the fourth to force some turnovers and cut down their deficit to nine points. They were also able to force Jordan to taking low-percentage shots, but they failed to get the rebounds allowing Jordan multiple looks at the basket.

Alhamersheh sank the dagger at the 2:18 mark as he made a triple to extend their lead to 10 at 55-45.

Tsuji tried to mount a comeback for China as his back-to-back triples cut the lead down to just six points at 59-53 with 25 seconds left in the game. Baxter however came up with two crucial steals late in the game to preserve the victory.

Naturalized player Jimmy Baxter top-scored for both teams with 16 markers on 6-of-16 shooting. He also came up with six rebounds and three steals. Mohammad Hussein added 15 markers and 19 boards, while Ahmad Alhamarsheh finished with 10 points and six rebounds.

Naoto Tsuji was the only Japanese player to finish with double-digit points, coming off the bench for 14 markers. Takahiro Kurihara made eight, while JR Sakuragi was held to five points on 1-of-10 shooting, though he did have 10 boards, two assists and a steal.

“Not to make excuses but it was really hard for us to play morning, afternoon, and night games,” said Sakuragi afterwards.

Jordan finished the game shooting a 41 percent clip, versus the 31 percent mark of Japan. They also dominated the glass, 48-31, resulting in a 22-11 difference in second-chance points. - AMD, GMA News

 

The scores:

Jordan 65 – Baxter 16, Hussein 15, Alhamarsheh 10, Al-Sous 9, Hadrab 6, Zaghab 4, Al Dwairi 2, Alfaraj 1, Alnajjar 1, Abdeen 1, Abu Ruqayah 0, Abuqoura 0

Japan 56 – Tsuji 14, Kurihara 8, Takeuchi 7, Ichioka  7, Sakuragi 5, Kanamaru 5, Sakurai 4, Hiejima 4, Tanaka 2,  Ota 0, Matsui 0, Watanabe 0

Quarter scoring: 15-13, 30-24, 45-35, 65-56