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I almost regretted taking the Lebanon U21 game lightly when Husnan Pukhraj won the jumpball and our opponents raced to an early lead. Thankfully that did not last long, as a sharpshooting effort from Nathan Macklin gave us a slim lead in the first. He was hot from the field as he went 6 of 6 until midway through the second, and that was sufficient for us to build an unassailable lead.

The buildup to this game was bad. 5 of our 13 players had bad game shape, leaving us with only 7 serious players. Thankfully, we're blessed with a deep U21 pool. I didn't have many choices early in the season as a lot of trainers tend to push 1 on 1 much longer these days, especially for high potential players. However, we're blessed that they have managed to plug in the holes by midseason, giving me more firepower. It actually happened last week, with Phua De Keong making his debut against Lebanon U21. Sadly calling up Cheng Da Ping on Saturday morning seemed to jinx him, as he was so excited that he played too hard and broke his nose later on in the day. Thankfully, we had 2 other backups at hand, Mike Gomboting and Nathan Mackin, both who performed admirably last night, with the latter earning a double-double with a statline of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists. Zhao Choon Keong also joined him in the double-double club as he posted 15 points, 18 rebounds and an astounding 6 blocks.

Both of our star veterans also did not disappoint. Ang An Da led the team in scoring with 17 points after hitting 8 of his 12 shots from the field. He was just one assist short of a double-double. Meanwhile Chua How Feng also barely missed out on a double-double, thanks to a terrible shooting day. He missed 7 of his 11 field goal attempts, ending the game with only 8 points. However, he made it up on the other side of the court, with 2 blocks, 3 steals and 9 defensive rebounds (11 total rebounds). He now sits at 238 career rebounds for the U21 and is just 19 short of breaking into the all-time rebounding list.

We have now virtually secured qualification into the next round, as our next match is against Thailand U21, who could potentially tie us in game record should they beat us. However they would need to beat us by 57 points in order to make it through to the next round, as the point difference is too big.

We're through folks!

The Thais went all out for the kill, but in the end their quality could not match ours. Nathan Macklin built on his impressive debut with another great game today, hitting 7 of his 15 shots from the field to lead the team with 15 points. That was a pretty decent hit rate considering tonight's game was very defensive, as our boys only managed to hit slightly over a third of our shots. However, the best player on the field was evidently Chua How Feng. Starting slow, he managed to score more efficiently later on, thus putting up and impressive 15 point 22 rebound double-double. He managed to tie Marios Tsachilis for the 10th most rebounds made for the U21 in a game, but the effort propelled him up to the 9th place in the all-time rebound standings. With 6 more games to go, he can likely end up at 2nd place.

Our next pool should consist of: Philippines U21, Malaysia U21, Hong Kong U21, Iran U21, and Lebanon U21. Our best bet is to battle it out for fourth place against Malaysia U21 and Lebanon U21.

Congratulations for next round!
NT closed lost yesterday, no more chance for next round :( .

Haha, thanks! But no worries, they are very different level of games. Consolation tournament is way harder to qualify, and plus NT level is also much higher. Let's keep our heads up and hope the next game will be a good one!

A great start to phase 2 of the Asia U21 Championship for us tonight. I honestly never expected the win, considering the difference in quality. The poor form of Zhao Choon Keong and Kok Loong An left us pretty thin inside and I was more than prepared to be beaten up by the Iranian goliaths. They were taking the game pretty seriously too. Thankfully, we came out tops.

We had a pretty comfortable start in the first. Keeping them at arm's length. However they put up a strong defensive performance in the second and threatened to come back into the game. Luckily, an inspiring half-time pep talk was enough to get our boys motivated as they suddenly raced to a 11-0 run to start the third. It was as if we were watching a totally different game from the last quarter.

Ang An Da was the player of the game as he stuffed the stat sheet with 35 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. He shot an efficient 56% from field and 50% from downtown, thanks to a surge in form in the second half after an abysmal showing early in the game. Chua How Feng was another standout player tonight as he showed how invincible he can be at top form. He picked up a double-double from a stat line of 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists while keeping the opposing bigs in place.

Our next game will be against one of the top teams in Asia - Philippines U21. Let's hope our boys keep up the good job!

i was hopping ang can break ong wan assist record.. Guess he wanted to be a all rounder

Haha. Hope he will exceed Ong Wan one day.

We were overwhelming underdogs going into the game, but surprisingly our boys held tight to give Philippines U21 their smallest victory of the season. Things looked positive from the start as both teams traded blows and exchanged leads, however the visitors triumphed took advantage of their quality in the post to snag a 70-84 win.

We are the only other team to have held them to below 40% from field this season, with Australia U21 holding them to 34% in their only loss of the season. However, despite standing tough on defense, our boys faltered in gaining possession, allowing them to grab 21 offensive rebounds to atone for their offensive shortcomings.

Ang An Da was our best player out there hitting a game high 17 points from an efficient 8 of 15 from field. He also grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 3 assists. Chua How Feng also had an efficient game as the sixth man, hitting 6 of 8 from field to score 12 points. Meanwhile Png Rong cemented his status as our defensive stalwart, putting in a marvelous defensive performance with 4 blocks, 2 steals and 8 defensive rebounds (10 total rebounds). After hitting double figures in his previous 3 outings for the country, Nathan Macklin somehow ran dry, shooting 18% from field (4 of 22) and only hitting 1 of his 4 free throws. He also missed all of his 4 shots from outside. That said, it was quite a mystery as to how our players missed their free throws all night, with most of them being top shooters at U21 level. On the other side, our opponents hit most of theirs, and this ultimately gave them the win.

We will be facing Lebanon U21 next. Let's hope all our players will be in great game shape.

ang an da at this rate he going to lead the scoring and assist🤣🤣

He's our Trae Young bro... Can score can assist. Top class PG xD