CHN/KOR – China outlast gallant Korea

WUHAN (FIBA Asia Championship) – China have just one more obstacle to overcome to qualify for their third straight Olympic Games after outlasting Korea in a tense struggle in the Semi-Finals at the FIBA Asia Championship.

Big men Yi Jianlian (17 points, 12 rebounds) and Wang Zhizhi (15 points, nine rebounds and three assists) eventually got on top of the scrambling Korean defense as China came from two points behind at quarter time to lead by two at half time, six at three quarter time before winning 56-43.

Zhu Fangyu scored only five points, but did an outstanding job on Korea’s leading scorer Moon Taejong, restricting him to 3/18 shooting.

Zhu was not fussed by the tight nature of the game.

“The scores were quite low, it was the same when we played them at the Asian Games,” he said.

“The reason is our first focus is on defense, we spent more energy on defense than on offense. But we made some adjustments for the third quarter and our shooting percentage improved and we gradually went away with the game.”

China coach Bob Donewald was emphatic in his praise for Zhu and his fellow swingmen.

“We put this guy (Zhu) on their leading scorer and he just locked in and chased him, and Sun Tue did some of that too,” he said.

“The wings had to come in to defend today, and these guys were right into them defensively and I thought that was the difference in the game.”

For Korea, injured point guard Yang Donggeun unexpectedly took the court and put on a masterclass with 17 points on 7/11 shooting and 4 rebounds. The rest of his team shot just 9/48 from the field, and Korea connected on just 1/18 three point attempts harassed by relentless Chinese defense and 12,000 screaming fans. 

The first half was a tight and physical affair with just 40 points scored in total, Korea making the running but never opening up more than a five point advantage. After leading briefly at the start of the game, China finally retook the lead with less than two minutes left in the half.

When China scored six unanswered points in the first 2:04 of the second half, the lead was eight points and the pressure was back on Korea, but point guard Yang Donggeun didn’t seem to mind.

Despite being noticeably hobbled by a serious ankle injury, Yang hit eight straight points on a series of sweet pull-up moves to drag his team back within two.

China’s lead then see-sawed until Sun Yue made the play of the game.

With giant Korean centre Ha Seung Jin about to score an easy lay-up and cut the margin to two points with 8:08 remaining in the game, Sun flew in from the weakside to pull off an enormous block before sprinting down the other end to hit a pull-up jump shot.

That four-point turnaround gave China the margin they needed, and they calmly closed the game out the rest of the way, with Yi and Wang hitting big baskets to seal the 13–point victory.

China will now face Jordan - who earlier on Saturday beat the Philippines 75-61 in their Semi-Final - in Sunday's Final of the FIBA Asia Championship, with the winner given direct passage to the London Olympics.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA