Taiwan needed no buzzer-beating theatrics last night to earn its third win of the Jones Cup, after the team apparently finally exorcized its second-half demons and kept firm control of the entire match against Kazakhstan to earn a comfortable 72-64 win in Sinjhuang.
The victory earned Taiwan a five-way tie for second place in the tournament with a 3-2 record, while the scuffling Kazakhstan squad joined Japan in the basement of the standings with a 1-4 record.
fast start
Once again, Taiwan got off to a fast start in the first, shooting 60 percent from the field, including going 3-5 in three-point shots.
But Kazakhstan gave itself plenty of shooting chances by pulling down 13 rebounds to Taiwan's five and the home team had a slim 23-21 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The contest remained close in the second as stars Lin Chieh-chih and Tseng Wen-ting ran into foul trouble with three apiece just four minutes into the quarter.
However, Kazakhstan helped out by going cold offensively, including making just two of nine three-point attempts, to end the half trailing by 35-38.
For the first time in the tournament, Taiwan got stronger in the second half. The team accelerated the pace of the game with a series of breakaways and crisp passing.
The scoring became even more strightforward as Taiwan's lead expanded and the tired-looking and demoralized Kazakhstan squad stopped putting up much resistance to Taiwanese players driving through the lane.
high-percentage shots
Taiwan finally discovered it could score more points by taking high-percentage shots instead of constantly trying to score from outside the arc, and maintained a comfortable double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter.
In the overall tournament, Jordan snatched the lead from Lebanon by beating the Philippines 74-70 to boost its record to 4-1, while Lebanon lost to the US 70-81. The US, Lebanon, Iran, Qatar and Taiwan are all tied for third place with 3-2 records.
Taiwan takes on Qatar today at 7:30pm.
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