Macau, China - 21st July was second competition day. All teams had completed at least 1 game from yesterday, and some had completed 2. Today, most of the teams were going to play 1 or 2 more. For those who did not play well yesterday, today was a great opportunity to mark some wins on their result, and for those who did well, they needed to keep the tempo to win as many as they can to secure the first spot on their pool.
Today’s program started with an intense game in men’s group between Team Iran and Central South University of China (China A). The two contenders started to play very physically at the first ball possession. Some turnovers were given by both teams, after getting used to the rhythm, both teams started to settle down to play their own basketball. Iran started leading by dominating the paint area and many fouls were committed by China. Therefore, China started to play very carefully, especially to avoid potential body contact when defending. But their shooters started to find their range to score some basket from the arc. The scores were close, and game had been intense since the beginning. At the end, due to foul troubles, Central South University of China could not protect the basket well, and lost to Iran by 17-21.
Hong Kong had a good start yesterday, and kept their morale in today’s games as well, two easy wins over Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Korea finished Philippines by 21-13. At the beginning, the scores were tied alternatively. Philippines started to get fatigue as they did not have any substitute, and Korea played quick basketball, fast transition made Pilipino players running out of breathe. Therefore, Korea started to lead until they closed the game within time limit.
As for Women’s group, both Peking University Team (China B) and Team Thailand B showed great hunger towards the title, and had fairly easy wins, leading their pool. What had to be mentioned was that Thailand A and China B, the two leading teams in Pool A of women’s group University 3x3 Basketball Championship University 3x3 Basketball Championship had a very close and tough game. Both teams played very smart, pump fake, fake passing, inside out, all the technics were implemented in this women’s game. The clock was running down to the last minute, but score was still 15-15 tied. China B put tight defense around the arc, in case of 2 points chance that would potentially gave to Thailand. Due to this tight defense, Thailand B was under pressure and lost the possession. China B took the advantage to score 2 points, the clock running out, score marked at 17-15, what a game!
On the other pool, two top contenders, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (China A) and Thailand B had a close game as well, but the result was totally different, Thailand B won over China A with 16-13, many fouls were committed in the game for both teams. Therefore, it was fair to say that this game was the “longest” of today’s competition.
Tomorrow will be the individual contest of men’s dunk and women’s shootout. Both players and the crowd are looking forward to witness who will be the best dunker and shooter of 2nd Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship. For more matches, please visit www.ausf.org and Facebook “Asian University 3x3 Basketball Championship”.
(Source: AUSF Secretariat)