Macau, China – on 23rd July, today was the final day of 2nd Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship. The men’s Champion would be determined from Iran, China B, Hong Kong and Macao. While, the women’s would be from two China teams and two Thailand teams.
Before the opening of the game, a professional cheerleading team was invited to “warm the court”. After an enthusiastic dance performance, the audience could not wait to watch the battles between the best 4 teams of each tournament from Asian Universities.
First game started with women’s group, China A against China B. Both teams have been top seed team of China University Basketball Association (CUBA); they could not be more familiar with each other as they had several encounters during final games of CUBA. At the beginning of the game, China B started off the game aggressively by attacking the basketball strong, many points were scored around the paint area, and fouls were drawn as well. While, China A played more around the perimeter and arc. Both teams were taking the lead alternately. At the end, China B proceeded to the final with 7 points more than China A, and the score was 18-11. The second semi-final between the two Thailand teams seemed to have a tacit understanding of each other. They played very peacefully, not many fouls were committed. And Thailand A finished the game with 21 points within 10 minutes time limit.
The semi-final games of men’s group started after a dance performance by cheerleaders. The first game was in between Iran and China B. Iran was more prepared than China by knowing what their advantages were, and what the weaknesses of their opponent were. Iran kept attacking the basket aggressively, drawing many fouls and earning many free throw chances. On the contrary, China seemed to have a bit of helpless when defending the two big men from Iran, they could not protect the paint area well. However, they used the opportunity of time-out to settle down to go over with the game plan, motivating each other not giving up on the game. After the time out, China started play with patience and rhythm, the score was catching up, but again, due to too many fouls were committed in the first 5 minutes, the quality of defense implemented by China was poor. Finally, they could not seize the game to let Iran to finish the game with 21 points.
Another semi-final game was between the host Macao and their neighbor Hong Kong. These two teams were also very familiar to each other, as they had many friendship games, and some of players from both teams were playing at the same semi-professional league. Hong Kong was a bit over confident, let Macao to score some easy baskets, and they realized this fact after trailing by 4 points. Both teams showed very good team chemistry, and they had a variety ways to score the basket; shooting from the arc, mid range jumper, inside move and drive to the basket. With the whole crowd cheering for the host, Macao played more enthusiastically and energetically. A few 2 points were made by Macao, and they closed out the game by reaching 21 points, what a win by the host, the venue was boiling up!
The 2nd Runner-up game of women’s group started with China A against Thailand B. this time, China A played very aggressively by attacking the basket, and obviously fouls were committed by the opponent. The guard from Thailand B was very calm when her team was trailing. She was really patient finding open shots for her teammates. As a result, the scores were tied until the last ball possession. 10 second left until the end of regulation, China A held ball possession, after trying to get to the paint area, Thailand B took the last shot from the free throw line, the ball went off as the buzzer rang. The score tied at 20-20, due to rules of the game, overtime would be given. The team who scored 2 points ahead of the other would win. Both teams had committed more than 10 fouls, which meant that each foul committed by one team would give 2 free throws to the other. First, Thailand won the chance to have 2 free throws, but due to extreme pressure and noises from the crowd, the player missed the chance to win the game. In return, China A draw a foul, 2 free throws were given, the player was very calm and confident when stepping on the free throw line, 2 free throws made! China A became the second runner-up of women’s tournament.
As for the champion game of women’s group, there were not so many surprises, China B tended to play better both inside and outside than Thailand A. There was always a 4 to 5 points different leading by China. At the end of regular time, China B won the game against Thailand A.
The 2nd Runner-up game of Men’s tournament was between China and Hong Kong. The emotion of players from Hong Kong was still affected from last game, their mindset was not ready, many turnovers were given, China B used those great opportunities to finish easy baskets. Time out was called by Hong Kong to make some adjustments, once stepped on the court, Hong Kong showed their passion towards the bronze medal, the quality of defense went up, and points were made as well. At the point where Hong Kong only trailed by 2, China B called time-out and made a substitution, this call really worked as the substitution player made 3 2-point shots consecutively which killed the game! China B won the 2nd Runner-up of men’s group, Hong Kong came the forth.
And the biggest event of this whole championship of the final game of men’s group between the host Macao and the gigantic Iran. The dark horse Macao proved to the audience that they made it to final not because they held luck, but also they were strong enough to be the top 3 teams from men’s group. At the beginning, Macao played very actively, even though they were way shorter and smaller than Iran, but they were really hot around the arc and mid range area, some 2 points were made. While, Iran was not an easy piece of cake neither. Their size advantage helped them to dominate the paint area where Macao had no solution protecting it. The scores were really close, but Macao was still taking the lead. A time-out was called by Iran to go over the game plan and let players to have break both physically and mentally.
After the time-out, the guard from Iran made 2 baskets from the arc, the lead suddenly changed to Iran, and Iran was able to maintain the lead until the end of the game. Due to extreme size difference, Iran was able to win over Macao to get the champion of men’s group, it was a very intense and remarkable final. Credit shall be given to both teams for them to deliver a wonderful game.
With the end of men’s final game, it shall conclude the end of 2nd Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship. What is more, congratulations to the Women’s and Men’s Champion who would enter into 3x3 FISU League Finals to be held in October 2016 in Xiamen, fighting for the honor of Asia. The Closing and Awarding Ceremony were held at JW Marriott Hotel. On behalf of AUSF, AUSF Assessor Dr. Mahdi Talebpour expressed the gratitude to the Organizing Committee for the thoughtful and well-organized efforts and thanked all the teams for their coming. What made all the Asian universities exited that the 3rd Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship will be held in Thailand in 2017. Stay tuned with us! See you in Thailand.
All the games and exciting clips could be found in Facebook, by searching “Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship”.
For more information, please visit www. ausf. org.
(Source: AUSF Secretariat)
Final Ranking
Women’s Tournament
Champion Peking University
1st Runner-up Sripathum University
2nd Runner-up Tianjin University of Finance and Economics
Men’s Tournament
Champion Payame Noor University
1st Runner-up University of Macau
2nd Runner-up Civil Aviation University of China