Qatar falls to Chinese Taipei but ends first round on top

9/26/2015 12:24:41 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)A Qatari player (centre) scores during the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship match against Chinese Taipei yesterday in Changsha-Hunan in China.

CHANGSHA-HUNAN: Qatar tasted first defeat at the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship when they went down fighting against Chinese Taipei 64-72 yesterday in Changsha-Hunan in China.

Despite the defeat the Qatari side finished on top of Group D after the first round courtesy to emphatic victories against Kazakhstan and Lebanon.

Chinese Taipei suffered nothing but frustration on the first two days of the FIBA Asia Championship with narrow defeats to Lebanon and Kazakhstan results that eliminated them from contention for a spot in the next round.

Yesterday the team played for pride and rebounded with a victory over previously unbeaten Qatar a team that had already clinched first place in the group.

Chih-Chieh Lin scored 14 points and Quincy Davis III had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the winners who will now set out to impress in the Classification Round and finish as high as possible in the standings.

Chinese Taipei trailed by eight points at half-time but emerged from the changing room full of determination and eventually took the lead. They did not go in front for good however until Cheng-Ju Lu’s three-pointer with 2:45 remaining in the contest.

Chinese Taipei got to the free-throw line more often making 14 of 22 attempts compared to a five-of-nine effort from Qatar.

Lu played less than nine minutes but hit three of five shots from behind the arc including one that put his team in front to stay.

At least one good team was going to miss out on the next round from Group D and it turned out to be Chinese Taipei who finished behind Qatar Lebanon and Kazakhstan respectively.

Chinese Taipei nevertheless showed great resolve yesterday a positive display that will take away some of the sting for their fans. Qatar did their hard work on the first couple of days and now they will look to reclaim some positive momentum.

THE PENINSULA

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