CHINESE Taipei authored the biggest upset thus far in the 27th Fiba Asia Championship by bundling out defending champion China in emphatic fashion, 96-78, in the quarterfinal round last night at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Quincy Davis III, the first naturalized player in Taiwanese basketball history, stepped up with 23 points and 10 rebounds, and shooting guard Tsai Wen-cheng added 21 as Chinese Taipei advanced to the Final Four against powerhouse Iran.
The Iranians flexed their muscles and made Jordan look miles and miles behind in the sport after a 94-50 victory in an earlier game.
Five players, led by NBA veteran Hamed Hadadi, tossed in twin digits as the Iranians opened up a 20-point lead right in the first quarter.
The Chinese led by as many as 17 points in the second half and looked headed for an easy win until a 13-0 run that bridged both halves had the resilient Taiwanese pulling even at 50-all.
China led comfortably, 50-37, before Chen Shih-chieh beat the halftime buzzer with a triple.
Taiwan then answered the second-half horn with all guns blazing, unloading 10 straight points to tie it all up at 50 before another trey coming from Tien Lei shoved them ahead for the first time—and for good—53-52, with 6:42 to play.
It was the first victory by Chinese Taipei over an A-team from China, according to Taiwanese scribes covering the 15-nation event. And this happened in the midst of nasty talk that the Chinese stars are at odds with their Greek coach, Panagiotis Giannakis.
This marks the second straight time that the defending champion has failed to advance past the quarterfinals. In 2007 in Wuhan, Jordan upset Iran.
Chinese Taipei—like it did in an 84-79 victory over the Philippines a week ago—shot 50 percent (10 of 20) from three-point range.
The scores:
First Game
IRAN 94—Haddadi 20, Afagh 18, Sahakian 14, Kamrany 11, Jamshidijafarabadi 11, Nikkhah Bahrami 8, Sohrabnejad 5, Arghavan 3, Kardoust 2, Davari 2, Davoudichegani 0, Veisi 0.
JORDAN 50—Baxter 13, Hadrab 8, Zaghab 6, Alhalmarsheh 5, Al Dwairi 4, Abu Ruqayah 4, Al-Sous 3, Alfaraj 2, Abuquora 2, Abdeen 2, Alnajjar 1, Hussein 0.
Quarters: 31-11, 53-28, 74-36, 94-50
Second Game
CHINESE TAIPEI 96—Davis 26, Tsai 21, Lin 17, Tien 13, Hung 11, , Lu 7, Yang 1, Tseng 0, Lee 0, Chen 0, Chou 0. Creighton 0.
CHINA 78—Yi 22, Wang Shipeng 17, Zhu 11, Wang Zhelin 10, Wang Zhizhi 9, Zhou 7, Guo 2, Liu 0, Chen 0.
Quarters: 20-28, 40-50, 71-62, 96-78