Taipei, Aug. 12 (CNA) Taiwan's men's basketball national team clinched a spot in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia on Monday, securing its best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013.
The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, which was denied a quarterfinal spot by Jordan at the same stage of the last Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater.
"History is part of the journey," Team Taiwan's head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, which he did not coach.
"Life gives everybody a kind of revenge, and [so do] sports ... but I respect this Jordan team and appreciate the way they played because they never gave up." he said.
Led by Adam Hinton's 18 points off the bench, Taiwan seemed to be in control much of the game, holding the edge in three of the four quarters, but it was not until the final quarter that it was able to put a gritty Jordan team away.
Leading 39-35 at halftime, Taiwan lost one of its toughest frontcourt defenders, Hu Long-mao (胡瓏貿), to knee injury with 5:49 left in the third quarter, while naturalized big man Brandon Gilbeck had his minutes limited in the second half due to foul trouble.
It was Hinton's 10-point third quarter that kept the team afloat, including a coast-to-coast slam with 2:21 left in the period.
Jordan cut the margin to three points at 63-60 with just over 5 minutes left in game, but back-to-back three-pointers by Chen Ying-chun (陳盈俊) provided much needed breathing room for Taiwan, and Jordan never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Hinton, named Player of the Game, said he felt "our team really came together" in the hard-fought contest.
"Especially Brandon, he was a monster -- rebounding, blocks, just doing everything for us," he said, and Chen's clutch shots from the kind of range NBA stars Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry usually take them from were also "very big for us."
Gilbeck grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds along with seven blocks despite only playing about 23 minutes, while Chen went 3-for-4 from deep to post 15 points. Dar Tucker led Jordan with 20 points.
Taiwan entered the tournament with arguably its best roster in a decade, with the Hinton brothers -- Adam and Robert -- suiting up for Taiwan in an FIBA competition for the first time.
The Hintons, raised in the United States, were born to a Taiwanese mother and acquired Taiwan passports before turning 16, making them eligible to represent Taiwan without occupying a roster spot for a naturalized player.
Taiwan will face Iran on Wednesday (Saudi Arabia time) in a bid to reach the Asia Cup semifinals for the first time since 2013.
It will be a big challenge, however, given that Taiwan has lost its last 10 games played against Iran since 2003 in the Asia Cup, Asian Championships and Asian Games. Its last victory was an overtime win in the 1998 Asian Games.
