S. Korea claim FIBA U18 Asian Championship title, China pocket bronze

TEHRAN, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea squeezed past Japan 77-73 to claim the FIBA U18 Asian Championship title, while China crushed Lebanon 85-68 in the third-place match here on Sunday.

The final was still in the balance going into the last minute when it was tied at 73-73. Lee Haesol made a fast break layup with 23 seconds to play for South Korea, who secured the title with Lee Juyeong's layup in the dying seconds.

Lee Juyeong scored a game-high 28 points, leading four South Korean players in double figures.

China, who had lost the semifinal to South Korea 89-85 on Friday, were led by Liu Lijia who notched 22 points. Yang Hansen contributed a double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds.

China trailed by 20-25 after a poor defensive performance in the first quarter but scored 12 unanswered points to start the second period to turn the game around. Zhang Junhao hit two consecutive 3-pointers to help China establish a 40-30 lead with three minutes to play, establishing the first double-figure advantage since tip-off. With their percentage in shooting from 3-point range greatly improved, China pushed their half-time lead to 15 points at 49-34.

Lebanon still could not trim their deficit back from the locker room, as China's lead ballooned to as many as 24 points after Liu made a layup early in the final period.

China shot 50.7 percent from the field, compared to Lebanon's 40 percent, and outrebounded 49-38.

Karim Rtail was Lebanon's most prolific scorer with 21 points, and Mostafa Assaf added 20.

As the tournament's final four, South Korea, Japan, China and Lebanon have booked their tickets to next year's FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary.

Also on Sunday, Iran finished fifth after sailing past the Philippines 89-72, and Chinese Taipei placed seventh with a 93-71 victory over Qatar.