FIBA Asia - China knock off inspired Lebanon, Japan lose...

DOHA (Asian Games) - China survived an inspired display by eliminated Lebanon on Sunday to remain undefeated at the 15th Asian Games and move into a quarter-final showdown with South Korea - in a re-match of the 2002 final.

Wang Zhizhi scored 20 points and had 14 rebounds off the bench to lead five Chinese players in double figures in a 75-73 victory over Lebanon in Group F. And captain Lui Wei made two free throws with two seconds left to secure the win.

The other quarter-finals match-ups were set up as well with Japan losing to Kazakhstan 77-72 but grabbing second place in the group on point difference. The Japanese next play Iran. Kazakhstan, who like Japan finished 3-2, will face Jordan.

Chinese Taipei beat Uzbekistan 106-69 to move to 3-2 and will next face Group E winners and hosts Qatar.

Lebanon were playing without their leading scorer Fadi El Khatib, who was back home with a back ailment. But Koussay Khalaf's side played for pride and battled throughout the game.

China used a 12-0 run to open a 12-point gap 61-49 midway through the third quarter. Only to see the Lebanese answer with an 11-0 spurt of their own to close to 61-60. Lebanon pulled ahead on Hussein Tawbe's jumper and Joe Vogel's three-point play gave the Lebanese a 70-66 lead with 3:12 left.

Wang Shipeng's three-pointer pulled China ahead 71-70 and Vogel missed a long range bomb with 59 seconds left. Trailing 72-70 with 7.3 seconds left, Rony Fahed missed one of two free throws.

Wang Shipeng was sent to the charity stripe with 4.1 seconds left and hit the first free throw. He missed the second but Zhu Fangyu grabbed the offensive rebound and Lebanon sent Lui to the line.

"Our opponents were ready for this game. They played very well and gave us a lot of problems. But we weren't ready. A lot of players thought this game would be easy. And without fighting and without heart it's tough to win a game like that," China coach Jonas Kazlauskas said.

"We played for pride. We're all competitors. We were just hoping to give the people of Lebanon something to look forward to. But we deserve to be ridiculed, which we will be," said Lebanon center Vogel, who collected 15 points and 10 rebounds. Fahed had his best game of the tournament with 27 points.

Lebanon finished the group stages with a 1-4 record.

Japan came into their encounter with Kazakhstan knowing a loss by up to five points would be enough to give them second place in the group. And Kosuke Takeuchi drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Japan a 77-72 defeat, allowing them to over-take Kazakhstan into second place.

Japan led 20-17 after the first period. But Alexey Yeropkin's team held the Japanese to one basket in the first five minutes of the second quarter in using a 13-2 spurt to open a 30-22 lead. The Kazakhs were ahead 37-29 going into the break.

Kimikazu Suzuki's side fell behind 12 points as Mikhail Yevstigneyev made an inside basket for a 66-54 Kazakh lead with 7:24 remaining.

After Kosuke Takeuchi's power basket in the paint trimmed the deficit to four - 66-62, Yevstigneyev put back an offensive rebound for a 72-62 advantage.

It was still a nine-point Kazakhstan lead with 27 seconds to play on Yevgeniy Issakov's break-away dunk. Kazakhstan led 77-69 with 11 seconds left - a result which would have given Kazakhstan second place in the group. But Kosuke Takeuchi came through in the clutch.

"It was not enough. Our defence is still a problem. We're a very young team and after we took a 10-point lead maybe we relaxed a little bit. We can play a lot better than that," said Issakov, who scored 12 points.

Anton Ponomarev had 18 points and 11 rebounds while Rustam Yargaliyev chipped in with 16.

Kosuke Takeuchi paced Japan with 16 points and Fumihiko Aono added 13 points in defeat.

Chinese Taipei did their part to pull to 3-2 with a comfortable 106-69 victory over Uzbekistan.

Tien Lei's 22 points led five Taipei players in double figures while Chou Shih Yuan (20 points) and Lin Chih Chien (19 points, seven rebounds and six assists) both had big games off Lii Yun Kung's bench, which out-scored Uzbekistan 47-25.

Vyacheslav Belokurov paced the Uzbeks with 20 points and two blocked shots. Uzbekistan turned the ball over 28 times in dropping to 0-5 in the group.

Uzbekistan hung close with the eastern Asians, trailing 20-16 after one period and 49-47. But Taipei's superior skill wore down the central Asians. Chinese Taipei led 76-60 after three quarters and increased their advantage to 39 points late.

Still, Lii was not satisfied with his team's performance, saying: "The spirit of my players was not very good today. We played too relaxed in the first half. We struggled with the basics and made too many mistakes on defence."

The men's tournament takes a day off before Tuesday's quarter-finals.

In Monday's women's tournament, defending champions China play South Korea in the first semi-final followed by Chinese Taipei's showdown with Japan.

PA Sport