ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) - China turned things around after the break and went on to leave Korea disappointed, 97-81, to head straight to the FIBA U16 Asia Cup 2025 Quarter-Finals, Tuesday at the MBank Arena.
The three-time champions found themselves down by one at the half and even stared at a 47-44 deficit early in the third, but Zhang Ziyi kick-started the crucial rally that changed the game's complexion in their favor.
He scored underneath and the others came in to help, with Zhang Chunzhi and Zhang Yizhaojie clicking from deep as the troika joined hands for a 16-2 run toward a 60-49 lead past the six-minute mark of the quarter.
Lyu Feiyan and Tu Hanzhi then contributed to their breakaway for good, giving themselves a 71-57 lead entering the final 10 minutes as Team Dragon outperformed their counterparts, 27-12, toward the 14-point cushion.
The match would never be in doubt since, and the East Asian powerhouse would go on to annex the no. 1 spot in Group A with a pristine 3-0 win-loss record as their sub-zone rivals settled for second at 3-1.
Chunzhi top-scored for China with 25 points and 9 rebounds for his best showing to date, with Ziyi finishing with a monster 20-20 outing as he came through with 21 points and 20 rebounds plus 4 of their 8 blocks.
Yizhaojie tallied his own double-double showing with 18 points and 11 assists, while Lyu added 14 in the win that saw the wards of Coach Wang Jianjun shoot 54.69-percent from the floor and collect 32 assists.
Now they wait for their Quarter-Final opponents, which will be the winner between Group A's second best team in Bahrain and the team finishing third in Group B in the Qualification to Quarter-Finals on Thursday.
Park Taejoon led the Koreans with 27 points and 9 rebounds, with Park Beomyoun adding 17 in the defeat that brought them to the Quarter-Final play-in, where they will take on the no. 3 team of Group D in Kazakhstan.
Securing a third-place finish in the group and a seat at the Final Phase, on the other hand, were Malaysia as one-third of the SEABA representatives ended the hopes of Mongolia by way of a convincing 79-57 victory.
The young Harimau took a narrow lead early before dominating in the middle quarters, 49-25, en route to a commanding 65-37 lead, which proved to be insurmountable for the hosts as they cruised to the triumph.
Jeremie Tan led the pack with 23 points. Mikel Rohit Kingsley Daniel and Sham Wei Kun backed him up with 15 points apiece, with the former adding 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks for a full line.
This marks the program's return to the Qualification to Quarter-Finals, where they are bound for a collision course against one-time bronze medalists Iran, who finished at second in Group D behind the 3-0 Japan.
Damdin Sukhbat had 18 points and 8 rebounds to lead Mongolia.
FIBA