The Chinese basketball team opened its 2018 Asian Games campaign on a suspenseful note, eking out a close 82-80 win over a stubborn Philippine team at the GBK Basketball Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia.
China actually started off slow, allowing the Filipinos to jump ahead 5-0 after the opening tip. Zhelin Wang eventually got the Chinese on the scoreboard, sinking their first point off a split from the free-throw line. From there, Zhou Qi took over by unloading a couple of three-pointers to wrest the lead.
Zhou’s outside sniping kept the Philippines at bay although 7-foot-2 NBA player also showed his defensive prowess. He accounted for 6 blocks in the first half to go with 17 points and eight rebounds. Fil-American Jordan Clarkson found likewise found his groove, piling 12 points, five rebounds and two assists to lead the Filipinos after two quarters. The half ended with China enjoying a 36-31 advantage.
Come the third quarter, China started off strong and went on a 6-0 run with under two-minutes to pad their lead to 11. But the Philippines simply refused to be intimidated, keeping themselves within striking distance.
China found itself, one man, down after Ding Yanyuhang fouled out during a rebound play. The NBA player’s exit seemed to have fired up the Filipinos even more, tying the count at 55-all courtesy of a Clarkson three-pointer, part of his 16-point output in the third quarter alone.
With the Philippines fired up, China needed to look for other players to step up their game. That came in the person of Abudushalamu Abudurexiti who strung up eight points to help China keep the Philippines at bay.
He joined hands with Zhelin Wang and Minghui Sun before the Philippines made their move with under five minutes left in the game. Paul Dalistan, Stanley Pringle, got into the scoring act, eventually seizing the lead, 78-77 with less than two minutes left in the game. Pringle further padded that with a basket to make it a three-point advantage. Little did the Philippines know that those would be their final points of the match.
After a Zhou free throw, Rui Zhao scored in transition to knot the count at 80-all with less than a minute remaining. Both battled back and forth and the deadlock was broken only when Clarkson fouled Zhao. The 22-year-old cager who also plays for the Guangdong Southern Tigers converted the two free throws for the marginal points. The Philippines had one last offensive to tie or win the game outright but Dalistans' three-point shot hit the back of the rim.
Qi led China with 25 points, 12 rebounds, seven blocks and a steal. Clarkson, who was a non-factor in the fourth, finished with 28 points, eight rebounds, five assists and a steal
Up next for China will be Kazakhstan, a team that the Filipinos beat by a whopping 37 points (96-59) last Aug. 16. The Philippines, on the other hand, played their last group game and are headed to the quarterfinals. They are likely to face another powerhouse in the Unified Koreas.
