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Three men fouled out, Chinese Taipei suffer 2nd straight loss

Xinhua, September 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

With three players fouled out, Chinese Taipei lost to Kazakhstan 84-73 on Thursday, swallowing the second straight loss at the 2015 FIBA Asian Championships.

Chinese Taipei was a member of the final four at the 2013 version of the tournament. However, too many fouls and turnovers made them spend the first two days of 2015 Asian Championships without a victory.

"We lost the first two games, so I consider Taipei team below the top 12 in Asia area," said Taipei head coach Chou Chun-San after the game.

"We made many turnovers, and I didn't do enough work to help my teammates," said Taipei top scorer Lin Chih-Chieh.

Jerry Johnson had 14 points and eight assists for Kazakhstan. Anton Ponomarev and Anatoliy Kolesnikov made 18 and 17 points respectively.

Liu Cheng led the game with 21 points for Taipei. Lin got 16 points. Quincy Davis and Hung Chih-Shan had 13 points each.

Taipai players Wu Tai-Hao, Quincy Davis and Hung Chih-Shan were fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Chinese Taipei had a slow start. The whole team turned the ball over for seven times, and at the same time allow Kazakhstan to grab as many as nine offensive rebounds. Kazakhstan guard Jerry Johnson organized the team well enough to take a 25-7 lead by the end of the first quarter. Khazakstan had 26 shooting attempts in the single quarter, while Chinese Taipei only had 14.

Chinese Taipei guard Liu Cheng stepped out in the second quarter. He burried nine points in Taipei's 20-9 spurt, which trimmed the gap to seven points.

Kazakhstan forward Anatolly Kolesnikov did a good job, collecting seven straight points to keep the team ahead by double digits again. Kazakhstan ended the first half 42-30. Chinese Taipei, who was famous for their speed and three-point precision, only knocked down three out of their 11 attempts beyond the arc.

Kazakhstan began the second half with 5 straight points, which extended the lead to 17 points. Taipei fought hard to score, but neither Lin or Liu were able to make straight shots.

Taipei guard Hung Chih-Shan made two straight three pointers in the later half of the third period. Liu added one afterwards to help Taipei move within ten points behind. Johnson responded with a key three pointer and Kazakhstan regained the 12-point advantage by the end of the third quarter.

Taipei picked up their fast-breaking weapon in the final quarter, but Kazakhstan was better in middle-range jump shot. Taipei starting center Davis was fouled out with more than six minutes to go, but Taipei shooters compensated with a string of three pointers.

However, Hung, who had contributed 13 points for Taipei, was also fouled out with more than four minutes left. Chinese Taipei found back their hot hand in shooting, but with too many fouls made in the fourth quarter, they lost the game 84-73.

Chinese Taipei will meet Qatar on Friday. It will be a must-win game for Taipei, given the fact that they will lose the chance to make into last 12 by losing the Friday game. Endi