Chinese Taipei beats Philippines 84-79 in FIBA Asia Championship

Chinese Taipei overcame a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter with a furious rally to beat the Philippines 84-79 on Saturday night to remain unbeaten in the Asia Basketball Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines.

Lu Cheng-Ju led Chinese Taipei with 22 points and hit six three-pointers to lead their comeback in the final quarter by outscoring the Filipinos, 29-11, in the fourth.

Lin Chih-Chieh added 20 points and 12 rebounds, Tien Lei had 18 points, and Tseng Wen-Ting contributed 16 points for Chinese Taipei, which trailed 68-55 at the end of the third quarter.

Chinese Taipei swept all three of their opponents in Group A heading into the second round unbeaten by stunning the Philippine crowd of nearly 20,000 packing the arena to cheer the home team.

"I think the Chinese Taipei never gave up," said head coach Chin-Che Hsu. "In the third quarter, we were down, but in the final, we won. We never gave up. I told my players to keep on going."

Chines Taipei got off to a good start taking a 30-19 lead at the end of the first period. But the Filipinos had a 24-12 second quarter for a 43-42 halftime lead.

The Philippine extended its lead after Larry Fonacier had 16 of his 21 points in the third period.

Hsu also said that Lin was instrumental in motivating the team.

"My captain told everybody that the game is not yet finished. We just have one stop, two stops on defense, keep on scoring and maybe we have a chance," Hsu said.

Chinese Taipei will join the Philippines and Jordan from Group A and Qatar, Japan, and Hong Kong from Group B in the newly-formed Group E for the second round.