C. Taipei nips Jordan, 91-87

MANILA, Philippines - Chinese Taipei showed nerves of steel in the endgame to pull off a close 91-87 victory over a rebuilding Jordan side on Thursday in Day 1 of the 2013 Manila FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Without veteran Sam Daghles, former naturalized import Rasheim Wright and the Abbas brothers – Zaid and Islam, Jordan still managed to made the game close against Chinese Taipei, which is fielding in a naturalized player in Quincy Davis for the first time in FIBA Asia.

The game was close until the opening moments of the fourth period when the Taiwanese made their move transforming a 71-72 deficit into an 81-72 lead on a 10-0 blast with under five minutes left.

Jordan, however, rallied to make it close but ran out of time.

"Jordan is a good team. We were lucky," Chinese Taipei coach Chin-Che Hsu told reporters after the game. "We got very excited in the fourth quarter that's why the margin ended up with only four." 

The team from the middle east cut the lead 77-83 after naturalized player Jimmy Baxter hit a triple at the 2:11 mark but put its own fortunes in a rut after committing numerous errors in the crucial stretch of the payoff period.

Mohammad Hussein was assessed an unsportsmanlike foul the next possession and gave Chin Min Yang the opportunity to extend the lead 85-77 with two freethrow conversion and plus the possession.

Tseng proceeded to miss two free throws but Taipei got the offensive rebound for another crack at the basket and Lin went on to the charity stripe to split his freebies to take an 86-77 lead with 59.6 secs left.

Al Sous answered with a basket to trim the deficit 86-79, Taipei’s Lin returned to the free throw line again to give them an 88-79 cushion with 29 seconds left.

Sous, the veteran guard who was part of the Jordanian team that ousted the Philippines in the last edition, scored four quick points to give life to the cause of the hard-fighting Middle Eastern team closing in 83-88 with 26 ticks left.

Jordan’s spirited rally though came up short as time expired although Taipei missed a couple of free throws in the endgame, they still managed to gut out the a crucial first win in the preliminary round. 

Davis totaled with 18 points and 11 boards while Chih-Chieh Lin scattered 27 markers anchored on 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Baxter, meanwhile, led Jordan with 30 points spiked by five triples.