Lebanon nips South Korea, finishes fifth

CHANGSHA – From a two-year absence in international play and minus some stars, Lebanon came out and salvaged a decent fifth place finish in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship at the Changsha Social Work Gymnasium here.

Sungmin Cho missed a potential game-winning three-point attempt in the dying seconds, and Lebanon escaped with an 88-87 nail-biter over Korea for fifth-place honors.

Bassel Bawji, Charles Tabet and Amir Saoud scored the clutch baskets as Lebanon shattered a 78-all deadlock and held on to get the decent finish in their first Asian meet on their reinstatement from a FIBA suspension.

In the FIBA Asia Power Ranking in the lead-up to the tourney, Lebanon was ranked outside Top Eight because of its long absence in international play.

But somehow, the West Asian force was able to make a run until it was stopped on its tracks by Gilas Pilipinas in an emotional duel in the quarterfinals.

They beat Qatar and South Korea in the consolation round to wind up fifth. The Koreans, meanwhile, slipped to sixth from the third place during the FIBA Asia in Manila in 2013.

Korea crushed back to earth after bagging the gold medal in the Asian Games at home in Incheon last year.

Not helping the Koreans’ cause was a string of injuries suffered during the buildup for the FIBA Asia Olympic qualifier.

Bawji, a rugged, bulky 6-foot-8 center, powered his way to 28 points and 12 rebounds while naturalized player Jay Youngblood and forward Mohamad Ali Haidar sat out the game.

Kim Jongkyu produced a double-double game with 16 points and 12 rebounds with Cho also coming away with 16 markers on top of four assists, three rebounds and one steal for the Koreans.

In the fight for seventh, Qatar simply overpowered India, 84-58.

The Qataris settled for seventh after failing to sustain their searing drive during the preliminary phase where they finished second behind China in Group F