Unable to overcome a dismal third quarter, Taiwan fell short to tournament hosts China in an 87-53 final in the bronze medal game of this year’s East Asia Basketball Championship at the Olympic Sports Center in Nanjing, China, yesterday afternoon to settle for a fourth-place finish.
It was the second game that the Islanders had lost in as many days following a devastating defeat to South Korea in the semi-finals the night before, despite having previously beaten Japan and Mongolia in the preliminaries, closing out this year’s competition with a whimper.
While the fourth-place finish was a disappointment to many, it did not scupper Taiwan’s chances of qualifying for the upcoming Asian Championship in Wuhan, China, as the top four finishers of the tournament all earned a spot in the biennial hoop gala, which will see the top 16 teams in Asia face off.
Photo: AFP
China set the tone of the game early on by pulling off scoring runs of 6-0 and 9-0 to claim a comfortable 20-4 lead in the opening minutes.
It took an 11-3 run by Taiwan, courtesy of nine points by Chien Jia-hong (Pure Youth Construction) in the latter part of the first to keep the deficit at eight in a 23-15 game.
China increased their lead to as many as 13 points (34-21) in the second quarter, before Taiwan -finally found their range from the perimeter to keep the deficit to single digits, with the scoreboard reading 34-26 in favor of China at the half.
However, Taiwan were unable to keep pace with China as the hosts outscored the visitors by a staggering 30-11 margin in the third to lead by 27, determining the outcome of the contest long before the final buzzer sounded.
Five different players scored in double figures for China, led by Meng Duo’s game-high 22 points, while Chien led Taiwan with 19 points.
In the title game between Japan and South Korea that followed Taiwan’s match, South Korea outfought Japan 89-73 to take the top honor.
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