CHANGSHA-HUNAN (2015 FIBA Asia Championship) - Qatar overcame an early deficit and beat Korea, 69-63, on Monday to clinch a spot in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA Asia Championship.

The Koreans, coming off an 85-71 triumph over Lebanon, scored the game's first eight points and led 12-2 but Qatar controlled the tempo and fought their way back, taking a 35-31 advantage to half-time.

Getting 16 points from their 33-year-old center Mohd Mohamed and solid contributions from Ali Saad, Trey Johnson (both15pts) and Khalid Suliman Abdi (10pts), Qatar had the balanced scoring attack they needed. Qatar also had good overall good defense on the Korean shooters, who made just six of 25 (24 percent) from long range.

Turning point: Korea needed just a minute and 20 seconds to trim a 64-54 deficit to 64-62 with 3:14 remaining after back-to-back three-balls from Seounghyun Lee and Yang Donggeun, and a jumper from Jonghyun Lee. But Johnson stopped the comeback in its tracks with a jump shot to make it 66-62 with 2:24 to go. Korea scored just one more point the rest of the way.

Stats Don't Lie: Qatar had a lot of firepower coming off the bench, with their reserves outscoring those of Korea, 41-10.

Game Hero: Mohamed came up big in the 2:45 of the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of his team-high 16 points in the game to turn a 50-48 deficit into a 58-52 advantage for Qatar. The team used that burst of points as a platform for victory.

The Bottom Line: Qatar controlled the rhythm of the contest, playing at a slower pace. Nineteen of their 48 rebounds came on the offensive glass, which limited Korea's running game. Korea will be looking to overcome Kazakhstan on Tuesday to boost their hopes of qualifying for the Quarter-Finals.

FIBA