FIBA Asia Champions Cup Day Two

The FIBA Asia Champions Cup has moved into day three with the field of five teams quickly separating and the cream of the crop has risen to the top already with Al Riyadi and Mahram Tehran both coming into day three with two wins each and an average margin of victory of 54.5 and 47 points respectfully.

Day One:
Belent Asgabat – Al Riyadi 54:116
The host squad set the tone for the tournament with a solid pounding of the newcomers from Turkemenistan. Al Riyadi put up an impressive 108 shots from the floor (78 inside the arc, 30 outside) and went 20 for 26 from the free throw line, while keeping their turnovers down at 15. By contrast Asgabat could only manage 65 shots (54 inside the arc, 11 outside) and turned the ball over 42 times, a testament to Al Riyadi defense.

Al Riyadi had six players score in double figures, led by Amir Saoud’s 23 points. Also contributing were Weal Arakji with 16, Loren Woods and Ahmad Ibrhaim with 15 apiece, Jean Abd el Nour with 13 and Miguel Martinez with 10.

Belent Asgabat got 21 from Alksandr Kozlov, Samender Juinisov dropped in 10 and Toyli Bayriyey contributed nine to the losing effort.

E.R. Falcons – Mahram Tehran 66:121
Mahram opened their first day with an impressive showing and a 55-point margin in their 121-66 win over the Energy Resources Falcons from Mongolia. The Iranians hit a remarkable 70% from inside the three-point arc (53 for 76) and out rebounded their opponents 47-22 during the contest. One other impressive stat was the 88 points Mahram got inside the paint, which is a benefit of having four guys standing 2.11m or taller (2.11, 2.12, 2.12, 2.13)

The Falcons held a 5-4 lead with 9:10 to play in the first and from that point forward saw nothing but the back of Mahram’s jerseys as the squad from Tehran put up 46 points in the first 10 minutes, taking a 46-17 lead into the second quarter. At the end of the half it was 71-33 and turned into a practice session and extra playing time for the substitutes.

Seven Iranians turned in double figure performances on the day with Nikkhah M. Samad leading the with dropping in 21 points in just under 21 minutes of playing time. Adding to the final tally were Ratko Varda’s 17 points, Hamed Afagh’s 15, Farid Aslani Hajiabadi’s 14, Mahdi Kamrani and Moosa Nabipoor added 13 each, and Oshin Sahakian dropped in 11.

Nemekhbayar Battulga lead the Falcons with 18 points, Bolortulga Purevjev dropped in 16, Odbayar Batdorj contributed 12 and munkhtuvshin Davaadorj added 10 to the loss.

Day Two:
Al Riyadi – E.R. Falcons 100:53
The home squad picked up right where they left on on Monday with another convincing victory, this time over the E.R. Falcons, 110-53. Al Riyadi put the game in the bag in the first half, building a 61-21 advantage as the squads headed to the lockerroom at the break. They then cruised to victory on the backs of their second team, playing out the last 20 minutes fairly even with their Mongolian opponents, 39-32.

Al Riyadi was led by Ahmad Ibrhaim’s 18 points, Wael Arakji added 16, Loren Woods dropped in 14, and Omar El Turk contributed 11.

The Falcons got 16 points from Munkhtuvshin Davaadorj and 11 points from Nemekhbayar Battulga.

Mahram Tehran – Duhok 91:52
Mahram used a balance scoring effort across the four quarters to pick up their second win in as many days and set up a rest day before finishing their rotation through the field. In their first game of the competition, the Iraqis had a rough time keeping the much taller Iranians out of the middle and allowed 66 of the squad from Tehran’s 91 to come from inside the paint.

Mahram jumped out to a 29-12 advantage after the first 10, took a 50-31 lead into the break and then extended their lead to 71-39 going into the final stanza.

Duhok took more shots than Mahram (83 total shots to 80), but the difference was that Iranians found the bottom of the net 57% of the time (39 for 68) inside the three-point line, as compared to 33% (22 of 67). The big men from Tehran dominated the boards, hauling in 44 total to Duhok’s 26.

Leading the way for Mahram were Nikkhad M. Samad and Ratko Varda, each dropping in 18 points.Mahdi Kamrani added 15 points and Saeid Karekani added 12. Moosa Nabipoor grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the team in that category.

Antonio Joe Webb tallied 11 points for Duhok and Ali Muayad Ismael contributed 10 to the loss.

Wednesday, Oct. 17 Schedule
17:00 Al Riyadi – Duhok
19:30 E.R. Falcons – Belent Asgabat

Current Standings

Team W L Pts GA Al Riyadi (LIB) 2 0 04 2.0187 Mahram (IRI) 2 0 04 1.7966 E.R. Falcons (MGL) 0 2 02 0.5385 Duhok (IRQ) 0 1 01 0.5714 Belent Asgabat (TKM) 0 1 01 0.4655