2013 FIBA Asia Championship: Bahrain edge out India 82-80

The Indian men’s basketball team lost their first game of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship against Bahrain today in the 6,000-seater Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila. The final score was 80-82 in overtime.

India are in Group D along with Thailand, Bahrain and Kazakhstan and this was their first group match.

The top performers for India were Narender Kumar Grewal (25 points) and Amjyot Singh (16 points, 14 rebounds). Amritpal Singh (14 points, 14 rebounds) and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (12 points) also chipped in for India.

Bahrain led the game at 32-37 at half time (17-22 at the end of the first quarter). Bahrain were ahead thanks to some good 3-point shooting in the first half, when they scored five 3-pointers to India’s zero. But India were still in the game when they dominated the paint by collecting twice the number of rebounds compared to Bahrain.

The 3^rd quarter saw a turnaround with India getting a 6-point lead and ending the quarter at 58-52. The 4^th quarter saw a tense battle with Bahrain slowly catching up with the Indians by cutting the lead to just 2 points. A tense final four minutes saw the game tied at 70 with 12 seconds left. Mohamed Kawaid shot a 3-pointer to tie the game for Bahrain.

With a chance to win the game, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi’s shot was blocked with 2 seconds left. Bahrain couldn’t capitalize in spite of taking a time-out and the game went into overtime. Then it was the Narender Grewal show for India as he had two steals that both led to baskets and sparked a late Indian run.

But Mohamed Ebrahim and Ahmed Ismaeel took the game away from India in the dying moments with some defensive help from Chester Giles. Mohamed Kawaid (25 points), Chester Giles and Mohamed Ebrahim (13 points each) were the standout players for Bahrain.

India play their next game against Thailand tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, Iran crushed Malaysia 115-25, Jordan lost 87–91 to Chinese Taipei in a close contest while Qatar narrowly beat Japan 75-74.