Taiwan saw their chance for advancement demolished by the second game of the FIBA Asia Championship after an 84-73 loss to Kazakhstan at the Changsha Social Work College Gymnasium in Changsha, China, yesterday afternoon.
Held to only two points for nearly the final seven minutes of the opening quarter, the Islanders fell behind against a bigger and younger Kazakhstan squad that led by as many 20 points.
Even though they reduced the deficit to as little as seven points in the second quarter with the three-point shooting of Liu Cheng and big man Quincy Davis’ strong play in the low post, a tenacious counterattack by Kazakhstan kept the scoring differential at 12 with an offensive outburst late in the second.
A steady stream of outside shots by Kazakhstan in the second half kept Taiwan on their heels the rest of the way, despite two legitimate rally attempts by the Islanders that brought them to within seven on each occasion, sending them packing long before the final buzzer sounded.
Davis also picked up his fifth foul with more than six minutes to play in the fourth, further impeding Taiwan’s rally effort as he watched from the bench in a rare spectator’s role.
LEBANON 92, TAIWAN 87
Taiwan proved no match against Lebanon in their opener late on Wednesday evening, dropping a 92-87 decision at the gymnasium of Central South University of Forestry and Technology in Changsha to start off the tournament on a down note.
Trouble at the free-throw line ultimately cost the Islanders the game as they converted only 10 of 22 (45.5 percent) from the charity stripe to leave a dozen points on the table, a much too generous gift that Lebanon happily took advantage of in a game that Taiwan could have easily won.
An 8-0 start by Lebanon set Taiwan back in the opening minutes before three-pointers from Lu Cheng-ju and Hung Chih-shan brought the deficit to less than 10 points for Taiwan after one quarter of play.
A better defensive effort by Taiwan that helped hold Lebanon to 14 points in the second quarter further reduced a deficit that was as large as 15 points to just two, with Lebanon leading 43-41 at the half as Taiwan managed to punch the ball inside the paint with Davis beating the Lebanon interior defense.
Davis tied Lebanon’s Ahmad Ibrahim for the most points with 23 on the night to lead the Taiwan attack.
The Islanders found themselves trailing by as many as a dozen in the third with Lebanon hitting their marks from the perimeters before Taiwan rallied to tie the game with under three minutes remaining in the fourth.
That was as close as they got as Taiwan missed a couple of key shots on the offensive end while allowing Lebanon to connect on back-to-back threes to seal the deal.
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