2013 FIBA Asia Championship: Second-half rally by Taipei lifts them over Jordan

(Updated 3:28pm) In a preview of the two other teams the Philippine national squad will face within their group, Chinese-Taipei pulled off a second-half rally to dispatch Jordan, 91-87, Thursday at the MOA Arena.

"Jordan is a very strong team and we were very lucky to win," said Chinese Taipei head coach Hsu Chin-Che. "We were nervous in the start but I hope we can continue to play well in this tournament. In the Jones Cup, Jordan beat us by almost 20 rebounds but we beat them by almost 10 rebounds [in this game] so that was the key for us."

After trailing by as much as 10 points with 3:29 left in the third, 67-57, Chinese Taipei clawed back into the game thanks to their long-range accuracy. A 12-2 run spanning the last two periods was capped by two early baskets from Wen-Ting Tseng, to tie the ball game at 69-all, 7:57 left.

Chih-Chieh Lin added a triple to give Chinese Taipei a 78-72 lead, 5:20 on the clock. A technical foul on the Jordan coach did not help matters, as Lin converted on a free throw and Tseng banked in a layup to stretch their advantage further to nine, 81-72.

Jimmy Baxter, who was shackled by Chin-Min Yang throughout the fourth, finally sank a triple to bring the lead down to six points, 83-77, 2:11 left, but center Mohammad Shaher Hussein was called for an unsportsmanlike foul, followed by a regular foul, to give Chinese-Taipei the chance to seal the game.

Jordan stretched out the final outcome by fouling though, and Chinese Taipei kept the door open for their foes to pull off a comeback as they missed free throws. The lead was trimmed down to just three with seven seconds left in the game, but a Chin-Min Yang free throw sealed the win for Chinese-Taipei.

Lin led Chinese-Taipei with 27 points on an efficient 7-of-13 clip, including 4-of-8 three-pointers and 9-of-14 from the stripe. Import Quincy Davis also had a nice outing, scoring 18 points with just one miss from the field, along with 11 rebounds.

Chinese-Taipei took the early lead in Group A, with the Philippines and Saudi Arabia tipping off later tonight.

The imports of Jordan and Chinese Taipei opened the scoring for their teams. Jordan's Quincy Davis III got a nice pass cutting down the lane for a dunk, while Chinese Taipei's Jimmy Baxter swooped in for a layup.

The two continued to dominate early. Davis lorded it over in the paint en route to 11 first-quarter points while Baxter scored mostly on jump shots to total 13. Chinese Taipei led 26-20 heading into the second period.

Jordan guard Wesam Al-Sous scored on back-to-back triples to start the second period, knotting the game at 26-all. Chinese-Taipei tried to pull away again, but a triple from Khaldoon Abu Ruqayah tied the game again at 36-all.

After Jordan got the lead, Shih-Chieh Chen ended the first half with a triple to forge a deadlock at the intermission, 41-all.

At the half, Baxter led all scorers with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field. Chinese Taipei got most of their points from Davis and Chih-Chieh Lin, who scored 13 and 10, respectively.

Lin completed a three-point play at the 7:43 mark of the third to give his team a 51-48 lead, but Baxter scored on the next possession to bring the difference down to a single point.

Jordan threatened to pull away near the end of the third quarter. A triple from Baxter was quickly followed by a layup from Khaldoon Abu Ruqayah and a triple from Wesam Al-Sous for a 67-57 lead with 3:17 left in the third.

However, Lin and Chen strung together five straight to stay within striking distance. Douglas Creighton added a corner triple to further trim the Jordan lead down to two points at 67-65 at the end of the third quarter.

"We prepared very well for this game but we couldn't control our enthusiasm when we had a 10-point lead in the third quarter," lamented Jordan head coach Evangelos Alexandris. "The game was close down the stretch but we were called for six fouls when they were only called for one. Then when I asked the referee about it, he gave me a very strict technical foul. But we'll put this game behind us and concentrate on our next two games."

Jimmy Baxter had 30 markers to lead Jordan, along with six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Wesam Al-Sous added 18 markers before fouling out.

Taipei made 32-of-60 field goals for 53 percent, while holding Jordan to a 31-of-67 or 46 percent mark. However, Jordan was 12-of-28 from downtown, while Taipei was a mere 21-of-38 from the foul stripe, thus preventing a blowout. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

Chinese-Taipei 91 - Lin 27, Davis 18, Tien 12, Chen 10, Tseng 6, Yang 5, Tsai 4, Lee 4, Creighton 3, Lu 2, Hung 0, Chou 0

Jordan 87 - Baxter 30, Al-Sous 18, Abdeen 10, Hadrab 8, Abu Ruqayah 8, Zaghab 6, Alhamarsheh 5, Hussein 2, Alnajjar 0, Al Dwairi 0, Alfaraj 0, Abuquora 0

Quarter scoring: 26-20, 41-41, 65-67, 91-87