China escapes Kazakhstan in FIBA Asia

MANILA, Philippines — Coming off a blowout loss to Iran, defending champion China came out raring to bounce back but still needed to escape Kazakhstan, 73-67, in the 27th FIBA Asia men’s Championship Monday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Forward Zhou Peng atoned for his three missed free throws late with a crucial triple from the right wing to give China a 67-63 cushion in the final 2:17 of the game that doused a blistering fourth-quarter run by the Kazakhs.

“It’s been a difficult game for us. Right now our team is in a difficult time. We will be better. We will show everyone in our nation that we will be back,” vowed Zhou after leading his team with 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

“I have to congratulate our players they played a very good game and a lot of focus and desire to win the game, it was a very difficult game,” said China’s coach Panagiotis Giannakis. “They surprised us in the last few minutes.”

After naturalized point guard Jerri Johnson pulled Kazakhstan to within two, veteran center Wang Zhizhi pushed the lead back to four, 69-65, on a putback with 1:48 left.

Lengthy point guard Sun Yue calmly sank two free throws to bring it back up to six, 71-65, 1:12 remaning.

China saw Kazakhstan take a 63-62 edge behind the performance of stocky big man Mikhail Yevstigneyev, who wreaked havoc inside en route to an 11-point, eight-rebound night in 21 minutes, after leading by 10, 61-51, on a basket by Zhou with 7:28 left.

“Congratulations to China. They deserve to win being more focused than us in the last two minutes… showing great qualities and great coaching,” Kazakhstan head coach Matteo Boniciolli said.

China, which missed the services of star player Yi Jianlian for the second straight game due to a hamstring injury, had another player down after starting point guard Liu Xiaoyu was carried off the court after taking a hit from Yevstigneyev early in the first period.

Johnson paced Kazakhstan with 13 points and six assists.