Spain own the fourth quarter to down China; Qualify for the Semifinals of 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Men
Ilimane Diop led with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks while Alberto Martin followed up with 14 points as Spain booked a place in the semifinals of the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship for Men with a 64-57 win over China.
China, who were demolished by Team USA in their last outing of the preliminary round, were the better team on the floor for the majority of the game. However, a scoring slump in the fourth quarter eventually cost them the game.
The Asians were paced by 20 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks from 6ft 11 in centre Zhou Qi, while Zhao Ji Wei finished the game with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals. Their efforts however were not enough to take the Chinese
through to the semifinal stage. They will now play Canada in the first of the 4-8 classification games.
Spain, who also got 6 points and 12 rebounds from power forward Jose Nogues, will take on the red hot Americans, who romped to the last four after a 113-59 demolition of the Canadians.
China had a solid start to the game and at the end of the first quarter; they were ahead by 14-11. They continued to build on the momentum and were leading by as many as 9 points deep into the frame, before the Spaniards formulated
a 6-2 run to close the first with a 26-31 deficit.
A late first half surge by Spain failed to halt the Chinese charge as the Asians scored the first 6 point of the third quarter to take their advantage to 37-26 - the biggest lead of the game.
In the ensuing passage though, Diop took over for Spain. The 6 ft 10 in centre knocked down consecutive shots from the land of three to initiate a 12-0 spurt which saw Spain change hands on the lead at 40-37. They held the Chinese
from making a substantial comeback in the remaining period of the third quarter, which ended at 43-41, advantage Spain.
As had been the trend in the game, China again came out more aggressive at the start of the quarter, reeling off an 8-2 run to snatch back the lead, 49-45.
At that point it seemed that the Chinese will run away with the game, but in the next five minutes their offense completely froze, allowing the Spaniard to pull off a game deciding 9-0 run.
Alberto Martin connected on two treys during that span and Spain never looked back after that.
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