Day 2 of the Stankovic Cup was an eventful one, which started off with a close game between Iran and Japan. Despite bringing its B team to the tournament while their starters get ready for the worlds, Iran held off a Japanese rally to win its first game 72 – 68. After trailing by as much as 14 points through the second quarter, Japan fired back in the second half to get as close as 2 points by the end of the third, only to let the game slip away from them and give Iran a successful start in the tournament. Iran had 5 players in double digit scoring, led by Asghar Kardoust’s 14 points and 13 rebounds and Aren Davoudichegani’s 14 points. Saeed Karakani also had a solid all-around game with 11 points, 6 rebounds, game-high 6 assists and 3 steals. Takumi Ishizaki led Japan with 20 points and had only one other player score above ten points, with Kosuke Takeuchi scoring 17. Japan will attempt for its second win on Wednesday versus Kazakhstan, who will face Iran tomorrow.
The Chinese Taipei rebounded back from their first loss to secure a win against the young Kazakhstan team with an 80-64 win. Taipei started the game strong and looked to sweep the game until Kazakhstan bounced back and were trailing by a point through mid 3rd quarter, only for Taipei to finish that quarter strong and increase their lead to as much as 18. Chia-en Mao led the winners with 22 points, who will face Iraq tomorrow, while Dmitry Gavrilov scored 14 points and collected 11 rebounds for Kazakhstan.
Battle of the champs of the previous editions of this cup took place today as the 2004 champs Qatar also held on to beat 2008 champs Jordan for a measly 63-59 win. Once again, Targuy Ngombo was the man for the winners as he erupted for a game high 24 points. Qatar started off strong and led by 14 at halftime and looked to have the game in hand, only for the Jordanians, like Kazakhstan earlier in the day, to rally back and managed to stay close to the end. Enver Soobskov had 14 points for Jordan and no help from the rest of his teammates. Qatar will rest tomorrow while Jordan will play the Philippines.
In the last game of the day, the Philippines bounced back from a miserable performance against Lebanon to secure their first win of the tourney against Syria, who are still searching for their first win after losing to Qatar. The Syrians started the game strong and led by as much as 13 points in the first half, only for the Philippines to come
TnT: Tom and Tal 