Chinese Taipei suffers late threat to beat Jordan at Asian championships

MANILA - Chinese Taipei overcame a 10-point deficit and held off a late strike from Jordan to win their opening group match 91-87 at the 27th Asian Men's Basketball Championship here on Thursday.

After trailing by as much as 10 points with three minutes and 29 seconds left in the third quarter, 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 Tseng Wen-ting, to tie the ball game at 69-all.

Lin Chih-chieh added a triple to give Chinese Taipei a 78-72 lead. 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 points.

Chinese Taipei kept the door open for their foes to pull off a comeback as they missed free throws in the final minute. The lead was trimmed down to just three with seven seconds left in the game, but Yang Chin-min's free throw sealed the win for Chinese Taipei.

Lin led Chinese Taipei with 27 points while naturalized player Quincy Davis added 18 points, along with 11 rebounds.

Jimmy Baxter took a game-high 30 points for Jordan.

"Baxter is very difficult to defend. He can do everything," said Hsu Chin-Che, head coach of Chinese Taipei. "We were nervous in the start but I hope we can continue to play well in this tournament."

Chinese Taipei will play against Saudi Arabia while Jordan face hosts the Philippines.

S Korea beats defending champion China at Asia Championship

Shadow cast on China's bid to defend Asian basketball champion