Indian Basketball team lost their second consecutive match against Japan 86-63 few hours ago today. They are at number 3 in their group A standings earning 4 points by winning 1 out of 3 matches as against 6 of Iran and 5 of Japan in the preliminary round. Having one match against Malaysia they qualify to play three more teams of the other group.
Japan started with a 2 pointer and their defense was good. On the contrary, Indians were leaving their post open making the scoring easy. Amritpal put score on the board with a floater. Hiejima fouled Amritpal. Japanese co-ordinated their offense well to extend their lead 14 at the end of 1st quarter. India recovered a bit in the second quarter and narrowed the gap to 32-39 thanks to good co-ordination between Bhriguvanshi, Amjyot, Pari and Amritpal.
The third quarter saw Indian slowing down as Ota continued to score freely as Indian defense was very weak near the post. Amjyot was the only scorer on Indian side. At the end of the third quarter, Japan were leading 63-52. In the last quarter, Indian narrowed the gap to 7 but soon started coming apart to allow Japan to take a lead of 14.Amjyot then scored 2 points converting the fouls after 2 points of a rebound. Japan musters their lead to 16 points. Japan continued their dominance and at the Buzzer was leading by 18 points.