Submerged defending champion Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi U23 entered the final of the convincing championship
After the first semi-final with the victory belonging to the U23 Air Force Air Force, the second semi-final of the U23 National Basketball League in 2023 is considered an early final. Two rivals of Vietnamese basketball, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, met and competed for a ticket to the gold medal match.
True to the nature of the "early final", Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City played equally in the first two innings.After the first half, there was a lack of feeling of exploration (the score was only 11- 8), both sides played more excitedly in the second half and brought the score to 33-30.
By the second half of the match, everything gradually tilted towards the Hanoi players. They showed better physical strength, stubbornness and especially excellent defense.
A lot of HCMC turnover appeared during this time, creating many quick counter-attacks for the Thu Do team. This is also the aspect where Hanoi excels with 24 fast-break points compared to only 14 of the city team named Uncle.
Leading this defensive effort are To Ngoc Khanh and Phan Trong Tai, owners of 7 and 5 steals, respectively.
Towards the end of the match, coach Castillo's teachers and students stood up and closed the gap. But this is also the time when the star of the Hanoi basketball team, Tran Phi Hoang Long, appeared.
Despite having to be friends with the bench and 4 personal errors, Hoang Long returned to the field at the end of the 4th half and had a series of 8 points in a row, drowning all the efforts of names like Huynh Truc Nhan or Pham Hien Tai of U23 Ho Chi Minh City.
The match ended with a score of 76-67, the victory and ticket to the final belonged to Hanoi U23.
Five different players of coach Truong Hoang Trung's team reached 10 points including Nguyen Huy Hoang (10 points), Dinh Toan Quoc (12 points), Phan Trong Tai (12 points), To Ngoc Khanh (14 points) and To Ngoc Khanh (14 points). leader Tran Phi Hoang Long (17 points, 12 rebounds).
Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City U23 has 15 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists from Pham Hien Tai. However, he did not have a good finishing feeling with only 3-10 FG. Le Khac Dang Khoa was right behind with 13 points, 8 rebounds. Tran Do Quang contributed 10 points.
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Thus, the final of the U23 men's national championship in 2023 will take place between Hanoi and the Air Force - Air Force, creating an internal competition of Capital Basketball to compete for the gold medal.
The final match will take place at 17:30 on Thursday, April 12 at the gymnasium of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. Before that at 16:00, the U23 women's team of Hanoi and the women of Ho Chi Minh City will face off to compete for the silver medal (HCV belongs to Can Tho).
