China, South Korea advance to finals in Asian Games basketball
China and South Korea defeated their respective semi-final opponents on Thursday to march on to the gold medal game of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games men's basketball competition.
Defending champion China was pushed to the limit before disposing of a gritty Iran squad 68-65 at the Guangzhou International Sport Arena.
Former National Basketball Association player Wang Zhizhi and Wang Shipeng buried treys down the stretch to lead the Chinese over the Iranians, who beat them in last year's Asian Championships.
The Chinese trailed 56-59 with five minutes and 10 seconds remaining in the game before Wang Zhizhi made two treys and Wang Shipeng added one to give the hosts a 65-64 advantage. Mahdi Kamrani hit a free
throw to tie the scores at 65-65. Wang Shipeng then nailed his fourth three-pointer of the game with 13 seconds remaining to seal the victory for China.
Wang Shipeng finished with 20 points while Wang Zhizhi had 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks in an all-around performance.
Kamrani led the Iranians with 19 points while Hamed Afagh and Oshin Sahakina chipped in 14 and 12, respectively.
"We have been carried a lot since the 2009 Asian Championships, we didn't play well in Tianjin. We have been preparing for the game against Iran since the first play of the Asian Games and we put down
all the burdens now," Wang Shipeng told Xinhua News Agency.
In the other semi-final, South Korea survived a late surge from Japan to beat its East Asian neighbour 55-51.
Led by veteran Kim Joo-sung, the South Koreans built a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter. But Yusuke Odada responded with a three-pointer and two free throws to trim South Korea's lead to five with
40 seconds remaining.
Hiroyuki Kinoshita then converted a free throw while Takumi Ishizaki added a trey as the Japanese came to within two 51-53 with eight seconds remaining. The Koreans, however, refused to succumb to pressure
as Yang Dong-geun sealed his two free throws on the other end to secure the win.
China and South Korea last met in the Asian games basketball final in 2002, where the latter posted a come-from-behind 102-100 overtime victory.
In the women's basketball final, China beat South Korea 70-64. Team captain Chen Nan had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead the hosts to their third-straight Asian Games gold.
Japan claimed the bronze with a 73-61 victory over Chinese Taipei.
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