Taiwan proved no match for Iran in their second game of the final round, losing a 98-66 decision to the defending champs to drop out of contention for a fifth-place finish in this year’s FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan, China, yesterday afternoon.
The absence of point guard Lee Hsueh-lin, who was out with a cut above his left eye from Friday night’s game, prompted skipper Chou Jung-san to start reserve Chen Shih-nian, who filled in nicely for Lee with a solid effort off the bench.
However, Chen’s effort was far from sufficient to claim the Islanders victory over favored Iran, who vented their frustration following an upset to Jordan on Friday, which cost them a chance to win their third straight title, by dominating Taiwan in every facet of the game from the get-go, en route to a blowout win.
Photo: AFP
Heading the towering Iran attack was center Hamed Hadadi, whose game-high 21 points and 14 rebounds marked the second straight game that an opposing center had thrashed Taiwan’s interior defense, with Philippines big man Marcus Douthit doing as he pleased in a 37-point outing the night before.
Also starring for Iran were outside threat Hamed Afagh and guard Mahdi Kamrany, who converted 6 of 11 from behind the three-point line and slashed through Taiwan’s defense with several strong drives to the basket, combining for 36 points and keeping Taiwan on their heels the entire game.
For Taiwan, who never looked comfortable running their half-court offense, the bulk of the scoring burden fell on big men Wu Tai-hao and Tseng Wen-ding, the former with 16 points and the latter nailing an unusual 3 of 4 from behind the three-point line in a 13-point effort.
Failure to box out Iran on both ends of the floor also led to a huge disparity in total rebounds as Iran had a lopsided 54-24 advantage, 22 of which came off the offensive glass.
Next up for Taiwan in the battle for a seventh-place finish are Japan, who lost to Lebanon in their second game of the final round last night. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30pm at the Wuhan Sports Complex.
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