Outplayed by Jordan in every facet of the game, Taiwan fell short to the Middle Easterners 85-70 at the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup in Beirut late on Saturday evening, settling for a showdown against Kazakhstan for a seventh-place finish at best.
Failure to contain the inside attack of their taller opponents continued to haunt the Taiwanese as they attempted to defend against the Jordanian offense with a smaller interior defense anchored by 2.02m center Tseng Wen-ding (Yulon Luxgens).
Jordan’s intent to punch the ball inside the paint would work to perfection as Tseng and his fellow frontcourt player James Mao (Pure Youth Construction) were both called for their third fouls in the second quarter, which neutralized their effectiveness to defend against Jordan’s low-post play.
PHOTO: AFP
That meant a clear path to the basket for Jordan with several uncontested layups in the second quarter as they upped their two-point lead at the end of the first quarter to as many as 17 points, before closing out the half with a commanding 48-33 lead.
Taiwan fell behind by as many as 23 midway through the third quarter, before an 8-2 run cut the deficit to fewer than 20 points en route to a 15-point defeat.
Four different players ended the game with double-digit scoring for Jordan, with Osama Daghles leading the way with his game-high 24 points, while Mao’s team-high 11 on the night made him the lone Taiwanese in double digits.
“We live and die by the outside shots because we simply can’t compete against anyone inside the paint,” Taiwanese coach Chang Hsueh-lei (Yulon Luxgens) said after the game, referring to his team’s obvious size disadvantage.
Taiwan were outrebounded by Jordan by a huge 46-33 margin, with 17 coming off the offensive glass for the Jordanians.
Next up for Taiwan in their tournament finale are Kazakhstan, who fell to a 74-61 defeat to Iran, who will face Jordan in the fifth/sixth place match.
In the semi-finals, Japan edged past Qatar 78-76, while hosts Lebanon squeezed into the final after they defeated the Philippines 81-80.
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