China, Korea come back from big deficits as four teams book spots in Quarters

TEHRAN (2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship) - China and Korea both came back from big deficits to book spots in the Quarter-Finals of the 2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship along with Chinese Taipei and Lebanon. 

China raced back from 16 points down with 4 minutes left in the third quarter to knock off Chinese Taipei 74-71 to remain undefeated atop Group A with a 4-0 record. China trailed 59-43 but then opened the fourth quarter with a 17-0 run thanks to Taruike Jianiyou scoring 10 of his 19 points in the game. Chinese Taipei did not score in the final period until there was just 17 seconds left in the game.

Taruike added 10 rebounds and 3 blocks and Liu Zeyi scored 13 points for China. Kao Kuo-Hao poured in 27 points and had 4 rebounds for Chinese Taipei, who dropped to 3-1 but still joined China in advancing to the final eight from Group A. 

Third place in the group belongs to India, who beat Iraq 93-83 in overtime to improve to 2-2 thanks to 31 points from Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi and double-doubles from Vishal Kumar Gupta (13 points and 14 rebounds) and Hariram Ragupathy (13 and 10). Iraq got 23 points from Ihab Al-Zuhairi but dropped to 1-3 in a three-team tie for fourth place with Philippines and Thailand. 

Thailand survived a thriller against Philippines for their first victory 74-71 thanks to Justin Bassey collecting 34 points, 21 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. Neither team led by more than 5 points and there were 15 lead changes in the game and 11 ties. Jolo Mendoza scored 22 points for the Philippines and John Vincent Gallego had 20 points and 8 rebounds in the loss.

Lebanon also remained undefeated at 4-0 to top Group B after a 73-51 win over Japan with Mark Alkhoury pacing four Lebanese in double figures with 13 points while Ali Mansour picked up 8 points and 11 rebounds. Japan fell to 2-2 despite Yudai Nishida scoring 16 points. 

Joining Lebanon into the Quarter-Finals are Korea, who came back from a 17-point deficit to knock off the hosts Iran 86-83. Kim Jinyoung tallied 25 points as Korea were down big early in the third quarter but led by as many as 13 points in the fourth to improve to 3-1 in the group. Park Jiwon and Han Seunghui both added 11 points and Yang Jae Min picked up 9 points, 10 rebounds and 4 steals. Iran are now 2-2 in the group despite Amirhossein Khandanpoor picking up 16 points and 10 rebounds. 

Kazakhstan kept alive their hopes of the Quarter-Finals with a 1-3 record after beating winless Indonesia as Nikita Timofeyev (17 points and 15 rebounds) and Artem Parfenov (13 and 16) both had double-doubles for the winners. Yudha Saputera paced Indonesia with 19 points.

Re-live the experience on the FIBA Asia U18 live feed.

RESULTS

Lebanon beat Japan 73-51

China beat Chinese Taipei 74-71

Kazakhstan beat Indonesia 80-61

Thailand beat Philippines 74-71

Korea beat Iran 86-83

India beat Iraq 93-83 (OT) 

FIBA