JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) - China booked the first ticket to the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Quarter-Finals following a wire-to-wire 90-68 victory over the skidding Jordan, Saturday at the King Abdullah Sports City.
The competition's only 16-time champions wasted no time imposing control, opening the game with a 17-0 assault led by Hu Mingxuan and Hu Jinqiu as the Falcons could only play catch-up the rest of the way.
Cheng Shuaipeng then sparked the breakaway in the middle of the game's last two quarters behind his pinpoint accuracy from downtown, and Team Dragon would never worry from then on toward advancing.
The Chinese have clinched the no. 1 spot in Group C with an immaculate 3-0 record to go straight to the Quarter-Finals, and will now wait for the Qualification to Quarter-Finals' results to know their opponents.
"This was a great game for us," said Coach Guo Shiqiang. "It was a team effort. We really prepared well for this game. We fought together and we executed both on offense and defense, and we controlled our turnovers."
Cheng top-scored for China with 20 points behind a 5-of-10 clip from beyond the arc.
Zhao Rui supplied 15 points. Mingxuan registered 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists to continue his solid play, while the towering Jinqiu notched his second double-double in a row with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Wang Junjie added 11 points in the victory as five players finished in double figures in the win that saw the crew tally a total of 22 assists - 15 more than what the opposition had - and knock down 12 three-pointers.
"We did a great job playing team basketball," Guo said. "In the knockout stages, we have to keep on doing that."
The Jordanians, on the other hand, were led by Dar Tucker with 27 points and 6 rebounds in the defeat, which was already their second straight after opening their campaign with a thrilling overtime win versus India.
Ahmad Alhamarsheh contributed 11 points and 6 rebounds as well, while Abdullah Olajuwon added 10 points and 5 rebounds plus a pair of steals for the Falcons, who ended the Group Phase with a 1-2 record.
Now, they will have to wait for the result of the Saudi Arabia-India game later tonight at 18:00 local time to determine their place in the standings, whether or not they'll reach the Qualification to Quarter-Finals.
FIBA