WUHAN, China - Asian basketball powerhouse China, South Korea and Iran enjoyed their fifth straight victory at the FIBA Asian championships on Tuesday.
China defeated Jordan 93-60 on home court.
Eleven Chinese players scored in the game, NBA star Yi Jianlian led the team with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Veteran center Wang Zhizhi collected 10 points. Chinese made 11 of their 22 three-point attempts while Jordan only converted 5 out of 23.
Jordan forward Zaid Ahmed Abbas got a team-high 17 points.
"We made a change of our strategy in the third half," said Yi Li, who had 14 points, after the game. "We focused on the defense and made harder attack on the three point line. The result was satisfactory."
"Jordan is a dangerous team," said Chinese head coach Robert Michael Donewald. "We opened in the third quarter, making intense defense."
"We seemed to be our best. Out performance today is much better than that on the Stankovic cup, and also better than that on our England trip. We will stay our focus and continue doing the theme, " he added.
Abbas led Jordan to rally from 25-15 behind to 40-36 behind. China pulled the trigger after Jordan's fight back in the third quarter, delivering a 23-4 spurt to establish a 23-point lead.
The host team kept widening the gap, and finally secured the victory with a 33-point advantage.
South Korea survived a tough first half to outscore Chinese Taipei, the 41st-ranked team in FIBA ranking, 82-61 in group E.
Chinese Taipei made a 20-18 lead in the first quarter, and South Korea's shooters recovered in the second half but delivering a 21-8 spurt in the third period.
Four of South Korean players harvested double figures, guard Cho Sung-Min scored a team-high 19 points. South Korean center Ha Seung-Jin was injured for the second time in the tournament.
In the same group, defending champion Iran beat west Asian neighbor Lebanon 76-45. Samad Nikkhah Bahrami and Hamed Afagh topped the team with 16 points. Center Hamed Hadadi pocketed 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Japan suffered the team's first defeat after a four game winning streak, losing 83-76 to Philippines.
Philippines' Marcus Douthit stayed 36 minutes and 49 seconds on court to collect 25 points and 18 rebounds.
