2011 FIBA Asia Championship 25th Sep Review: Korea finish third; Iran settle for the fifth spot
The FIBA Asia Championship reached a befitting conclusion on Sunday, 25th of September as China edged Jordan by a single point in a thriller. On the day, however, other classification games were played as well. Here
is a brief review of these games
Korea 70 – 68 Philippines
Korea took on the Philippines in a game to decide third place in the tournament. After a closely fought game, the Koreans pulled off a late surge to squeak out a 70 – 68 win. The win was special for Korea as they came from behind
after having a tough time early on.
Sungmin Cho was the top player for Korea. He was an appreciable offensive outlet throughout the game and ended with 20 points. Joo-Sun Kim was also impressive as the centre grabbed 9 boards and contributed 14 points.
Marcus Douthit, the Filipino forward was the standout player in the game. He was an unstoppable force for the Philippines pretty much throughout the game, scoring a game high 27 points and grabbing an incredible 22 rebounds, also
a game high.
Other than him, Jim Alapag scored 17 points. The rest of the side however was not able to contribute too much to the cause.
Philippines started strongly in a slow first quarter. They easily saw off most attacks from the Koreans and went into the break with a sizeable 24-17 lead. They further cemented the lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Koreans
23-19 to open up an 11 points gap at the end of the period.
However, all their good work was undone in the final period. Korea came out with all guns blazing in the last quarter and scored 34 points. They went into the lead with just around a minute and half left to play and held on to
secure a win, and the third spot in the competition.
Iran 87 - 65 Lebanon
Iran comfortably beat Lebanon in 5-6 playoff game on the last day. The Iranians were one of the favourites for the tournament and disappointed many with their relatively early exit. They did put on a show to make short work of
Lebanon in the game though, cruising through to an 87 – 65 win.
Arsalan Kazemi provided 17 points and 9 rebounds for the Iranians while Mahdi Kamrany had 18 points in an impressive display. Samuel Hoskin was once again the shining star for Lebanon as he ended the tournament with a stunning
37 point, 12 rebound performance.
Japan 81 – 72 Chinese Taipei
Japan beat Chinese Taipei in a lower position classification game that held no real interest for either side. The Japanese were favourites for the game and established a dominant position early. They then led throughout the game,
seeing it out at 81 – 72.
Kosuke Takeuchi was the pick of the bunch in the game. He had 16 points and absolutely dominated the boards with 22 rebounds. Tomoo Amino was also impressive for Japan with 14 points while Wen-Ting Tseng led Chinese Taipei with
17 points and 7 rebounds.
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