ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) - China put together a spirited rally in the final frame and left New Zealand behind, 86-72, to punch the first ticket to the FIBA U16 Asia Cup 2025 Final, Saturday evening at the MBank Arena.
Shi Minghao, Zhang Yizhaojie, and Chen Yuxiu joined hands for a blazing 14-0 blitz toward a 69-56 lead with 3:30 to spare, and that was all Team Dragon needed to end what had been an agonizing wait for the program.
That solid display of poise despite trailing by a point early in the fourth ultimately enabled this batch to bring the country back to the tournament finale after eight years or since a silver-medal finish in 2017 in Foshan.
It could be recalled that the Chinese lost to Australia that time and they're surely hoping to get back at the Crocs, especially if the latter could take care of business against Japan in the other Semi-Finals bracket.
The gold medal game is set on Sunday, September 7, at 19:00 local time.
"I thank my players. They worked really hard," said head coach Wang Jianjun. "During the game, there were times that we fell behind. But we never quit, we tried our best. That's really why we won the game."
Zhang top-scored for Team China with 24 points, alongside 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Zhao Boxin came through with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds as he was crucial in a third-quarter turnaround that gave the crew much confidence that they can handle the Junior Tall Blacks.
Together with Zhou Zhanfeng and Zhang Chunzhi, the troika produced 15 unanswered points to erase a field goal's worth of a deficit to a 47-40 spread in their favor approaching the midway mark of the said period.
Zhou finished with 14 points while Shi added 11 points - 5 of which he made to spark the decisive run - plus 4 rebounds and 4 assists for China in the triumph that saw eight players contribute at least 2 points.
New Zealand, on the other hand, were led by Marco Sula with 14 points. Tawhiri Cate made 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 11 assists while Lawson Pryor added 10 points and 5 rebounds in the stinging defeat.
Runners-up in 2023, the NZ boys will face the losing side between the Aussies and Japan for the bronze.
FIBA