China relegated to battle for fifth

MANILA, Philippines - China, already relegated in the consolation round, still faced a big scare versus Jordan the day after being dethroned by Chinese Taipei.

Demoralized by their shocking loss Friday night, the Chinese barely beat the Jordan side, 79-76, to get a shot at fifth spot at the close of the 27th FIBA Asia Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City today.

“It was a difficult game for us,” said coach Panagiotis Giannakis, having a hard time to squeeze out his desired performance from his dejected troops.

The Chinese were still reeling from their upset by the Taiwanese in the quarterfinals, considered by the Chinese people back home as the darkest day in Chinese basketball.

For since China joined the FIBA in 1974, the Chinese had never missed the medal round of the Asian championship except once in 2007 when they fielded their second team when they’re already seeded in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

“We’re in a different mentality. We’re in a different mood,” said forward Zhou Peng, through an interpreter.

Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian and Zhou carried the fight for the Chinese as they overcame a flat game and lined themselves up for a shot at fifth place versus either Kazakhstan or Qatar.

Giannakis was hopeful they would learn from their mistake and rise back to reclaim the Asian crown in the near future.

“As I’ve told my players if we’re after change, we’ll first suffer. There’s a lot of work to be done, but I believe we can do it,” the Greek coach said.

Wang poured in 33 points, Yi added 18 and Zhou chipped in 13 as they scored more than three-fourths of China’s output in their scrambling win over Jordan.

The Jordanians relied on good outside shooting to offset China’s height advantage in the game that was close throughout.

Jordan had its last taste of the lead at 74-73 on Wesam Al-Sous’s last of five triples in the day. China surged ahead to stay on two charities by Wang.

The Jordanians eventually yielded the match on two misses by naturalized player Jimmy Baxter.

Earlier, Japan slowly pulled away in the last three quarters en route to a 79-50 win over Hong Kong for ninth place.

India claimed 11th spot in blasting Bahrain, 75-65.