Lebanon tell Gilas to take a Hayk, Tall Blacks beat India

exciting first win over the Philippines, 95-80.

It didn’t take long for New Zealand to build up a big lead against India in the first game of the day, and once they did, the Tall Blacks never looked back.

Eight players scored in double-digits for New Zealand in the enormous win, led by Sam Mennenga who had 21 points on 7-10 shooting. Mennenga was also one rebound shy of a double-double. The other players to score at least 10 points were Taine Murray (13 points), Taylor Britt (12 points), Flynnn Cameron (10 points), Kruz Perrott-Hunt (10 points), Taki Fahrensohn (10 points), and Sam Timmins (10 points).

For India, Arvinnd Kumar Muthu Krishnan led the team in scoring with 13 points.

Meanwhile, Lebanon were able to come away with a double-digit lead against the Philippines, but it definitely did not come easily.

The Philippines actually surprised with an energetic start, leading at the end of the first quarter 27-22. The Cedars then seemed to have woken from their slumber, going out on a 15-3 run to start the following interval, taking the lead for good.

Waelk Arakji led the charge in scoring for Lebanon with 20 points while also dishing out 4 assists in the process. Hayk Gyokchyan and Jonathan Arledge were both only one point away from joining Arakji in the 20-point club.

Turning points

New Zealand quickly flipped the switch at the tail end of the first quarter, going on a 23-0 run in just 5 and a half minutes. India never recovered from being on the wrong end of that run.

For Lebanon, their second quarter burst built up a lead that was as much as 22 points at one point. However, the Philippines clawed their way back and even got to as close as 9 points in the fourth quarter which drew cheers from the Filipino crowd in Istora Senayan.

Just as the momentum seemed to be in the hands of Gilas, Gyokchyan got an offensive rebound, scored on the putback, and got the foul, giving Lebanon the double-digit lead once again and for good.

Game heroes

New Zealand put through a balanced effort across the roster with only a few players playing over 20 minutes and even then, they did not play more than 23 minutes in this game.

For Lebanon, the hero was undeniably Gyokchyan. Aside from his clutch basket in the fourth quarter, Gyokchyan also knocked down long threes after another for a total of four three-pointers to space the floor for the Cedars.

Stats don’t lie

The Tall Blacks dominated virtually in all areas of the box score against India, but possibly their most glaring advantage was on outside shooting where they made 15 three-pointers while also getting 42 attempts from long range.

In Lebanon’s win, they were used their physicality to their advantage which allowed them to get 25 free-throw attempts. At the charity stripe, Lebanon were able to make 22 free-throws.

They said

 “For us, it’s a great learning experience. We’re a very young team here and for them to be able to experience this high level of competition, I think thats the most important thing.” – Chot Reyes, Philippines Head Coach

“Our main target, always, we put the target to get better and better game by game. Next game will also be a big one against New Zealand, so our target is always to go game by game with full focus. We’re not going to look forward too much who’s next.” – Jad El Hajj, Lebanon Head Coach

FIBA