Taiwan stumbled to the finish of the Jones Cup in Sinjhuang last night, getting blown out by South Korea 82-59 to drop to seventh place in the final standings.
Despite trailing only 29-34 at the half, a disastrous third quarter in which South Korea outscored it 26-14 was essentially the nail in the coffin of Taiwan's attempt to repeat its second-place finish from last year. Taiwan struggled to get its offense going last night, scoring just 15 points in the first quarter, 14 in the second and third and 16 in the fourth. It shot 30 percent from the field to South Korea's 47 percent.
Taiwan began to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter when it shrank the South Korean lead to 10 points, but five blocks from South Korean big man Ha Seung-jin stuffed any chances Taiwan might have had in a quarter that saw one player from each team led off the court injured.
Jordan had already assured itself victory going into the last day of play. It lost 102-101 to Japan yesterday, but its 7-2 record was still the best at the tournament. Lebanon followed closely in second place by Beating Qatar 85-77 last night, while there was a logjam of teams with 5-4 records consisting of Iran, the US, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan.
With the final standings decided by game statistics, Taiwan could have had a shot at a better place if it had lost by less than 14 points. Qatar took sixth place with a record of 3-6, while Kazakhstan and Japan brought up the rear with 2-7 records apiece.
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