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29 October, 2015
07 November
14 Shuki NAKATA (Japan)
05/11/2015
Review
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Semi-Finals: Then there are Four, they are all East Asian teams

JAKARTA (2015 FIBA Asia U16 Championship) - Three-times reigning champions China led a parade of all-East Asian Semi-Final line-up that included twice former runners-up Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei, who are yet unbeaten in the event here.

Taipei dominate their way into Final Four

Chinese Taipei took control of the game right from the word go in their 88-39 win over first-time Quarter-Finalists Thailand.

The East Asian team built a handsome lead at the end of the first quarter allowing coach Lin Cheng-Ming to get his entire bench a feel of the court en route to entering the Semi-Finals for the second successive time.

Lin Ting-Chien, as usual, was Taipei's leading scorer with 18 points.

Natthaworn Banchathon paced Thailand with a dozen points.

Japan await Taipei next.

Taipei had beaten Japan 83-75 in a Second Round Group E encounter.

Japan prove proficient for Philippines

Philippines played with a lot of heart, but Japan used their heads better. The latter prevailed 73-66.

Having scored the first 15 points of the game, in a fleeting run, Japan held a vice-like grip on the game throughout.

Yudai Nishida and Seiya Takahara combined to account for 17 of the team's points as Japan closed the first quarter 23-9 ahead.

There was no stopping Torsten Loibl's team from making their second successive Semi-Final entry.

Nishida finished with 20 points, as Japan's highest scorer.

Samjosef Belangel's 20 points was highest score for Philippines, who won't feature in the Semi-Finals for the first time in the history of this event.

Korea leave Lebanon gasping

Korea produced an efficient display of disciplined basketball in beating Lebanon 105-79.

The WABA team kept the twice former runners-up of the event under pressure for a good part of the first quarter, but when Korea two pockets of enthusiastic plays to take charge of the proceedings to close the period, Lebanon were found wanting.

Lebanon only managed a losing battle after that.

Yang Jae-Min had an incredible 65% in field attempts (11/17 including sinking three of his six three-pointer attempts) for a game-high 36 points to lead Korea.

Karim Zeinoun led Lebanon with 32 points, coming off a mere 38% field shooting.

Korea – runners-up at the 2009 and 2011 editions of this event – will take on three-times reigning champions China in the Semi-Finals.

For the record, China beat Korea 91-65 when they met in a Group D Preliminary Round encounter here.

China more than a handful for Kuwait

Three-time reigning champions China complete the Semi-Final line-up with consummate ease beating Kuwait 103-42.

Mohammad Hassan opened the scoring for game with a three-pointer and followed it up with another to put Kuwait 6-2 ahead. Those were the fleeting moments of surreal advantage Kuwait had in the game.

China quickly seized the initiative, built up a double-digit lead in double-quick time to leave nothing to doubt or chance.

Rpngzhen Zhu led China's scoring with 19 points.

Mohammad Hassan was Kuwait's highest scorer with 14 points.

9-12 Classification: Indonesia, Iraq play for 9th place

Hosts Indonesia overcame some heart-stopping moments before beating Bahrain 82-81 in the 9-12 Classification. They will now take on Iraq who beat Malaysia 75-49 for the 9th place.

FIBA