China carried too many guns for fearless India

NAGPUR: For the second game running the fearless looking bunch of Indian cagers showed a lot of enthusiasm but lacked enough expertise to convert that energy into a fine finish as China carried too many guns to register a come-from-behind 106-66 victory in the 24th Fiba Asia U-18 men's Basketball Championship in Tehran, Iran, on Saturday.
Making most of their conversion ratio from behind the arc, the Tamil Nadu duo of Hariram Ragupathy and P Baladhaneshwar fired a couple of lang rangers to help India take a crucial four-point (21-17) lead at the end of first quarter.
While India's aggression took China by surprise, the defending champions took mere 10 minutes to blow away the challenge. After a nearly neck-and-neck contest in the first quarter, China chose to mark Indian cagers from the full-court. China's pressure tactics paid dividends as Indian shooting guards failed to score freely and were helpless in collecting rebounds too. While China out-rebounded India 55-28 they dominated the second period 30-10 to take a handy 16-point advantage at the breather.
Once the defending champions surged ahead, it was time for the Chinese bench to have a go at their Indian rivals. In the third quarter too China kept their focus on the defense to stretch the lead further to 24 points by winning the same 26-18. Similarly, China outplayed India in the last period 33-17 to post a facile 40-point win.
From China, 11 of the 12 players put their names on the scoring list with four getting a double digit score.
Indian shooting guards Hariram Ragupathy and P Baladhaneshwar managed to score baskets at will but found no support from any of the remaining five cagers who were given opportunity to showcase their skills on the floor. While Ragupathy fired a game-high 31 points, skipper Baladhaneshwar contributed 25 points.
On Sunday the 52nd ranked Indian outfit will face the challenge of World no 27 Chinese Taipei at 5pm.
RESULT: China (J Taruike 20, J Man 18, Z Fan 13) bt India (Hariram Ragupathy 31, P Baladhaneshwar 25) 106-66 (17-21, 30-10, 26-18, 33-17)