Jordan beat Middle East rivals Lebanon by 80-66 yesterday with 28 points from Rasheim Wright to take third place in Asia, booking a trip to next year’s World Championships in Turkey.
The US-born Wright scored 12 of his points in the third quarter to put Jordan ahead for good, while Jordanian center Ayman Idais chipped in 20 points, hitting six of eight three-pointers.
“Today we made our shots, today we were not nervous,” Jordan’s Portuguese coach Mario Palma said. “Our players said: ‘This is our day, we are going to fight and go to the World Champions.’ We played a great, great game.”
PHOTO: AP
The Jordanians started the Asian Basketball Championship game off quickly, jumping out to a 10-0 lead, only to see Lebanon come charging back with a 19-0 run of their own.
The game went back and forth in the second, with Idais hitting five of his three-pointers in the quarter to give Jordan a 36-28 lead at halftime, setting the stage for Wright to lead a spectacular fast breaking attack in the third period.
Former Phoenix Suns player Jackson Vroman led Lebanon with 18 points and eight rebounds, while former Atlanta Hawks player Matt Freije was held to 10 points for the losers.
In yesterday’s other games, Taiwan defeated Qatar 87-79 to take fifth place, while South Korea beat the Philippines 82-80 to finish seventh.
On Saturday night, China beat a determined Lebanon team 72-68 to book their place in the final.
Little known point guard Hu Xuefeng put the home team ahead for good at 70-68 with two free-throws, while three blocked shots and a pair of free-throws from New Jersey Net Yi Jianlian in the dying minutes sealed the win.
China, still unbeaten in Tianjin, were to face Iran last night after the Iranians dispatched Jordan 77-75 in an earlier game on Saturday.
China were 35-33 ahead at the half, but Lebanon clawed their way back to tie the game at 62-62 with just under four minutes left to play on a jump shot by Brian Feghali.
Lebanon’s Yugoslav coach Dragan Raca said the foul that sent China’s point guard to the line with just over 40 seconds left was a “strange call” that decided the game.
“I am a coach that never talks about referees in my life, but now I have to talk,” Raca said. “This is a high level competition, China is a very high level team, they don’t need help, but one referee gave help.”
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