Coming off a heartbreaking double overtime loss to Qatar in the quarterfinal, Taiwan NT lost to Japan again, 78-67, Wednesday Taiwan time in a classification game. It will meet Kazakhstan, which lost to South Korea 94-74, in the 7th-8th classification game, its last game in Doha.
If Taiwan beat Kazakhstan, it will finish exactly the same spot as four years ago when it finished for 7th place in Pusan Asian Games. Kazakhstan won bronze in Pusan.
Taiwan NT did not look like a team that wanted to be there, playing sluggishly and carelessly all game long. Japan, which beat Taiwan 85-75 in the preliminary round, immediately jumped to a 22-8 lead and cruised thereafter.
Chen Hsin-an led Taiwan with 14 points while Tien Lei had 10 points and 13 boards. As a team, Taiwan committed 19 turnovers and shot 37 percent from the field and made only half of its foul shots.
Tomoo Amino had 15 points to pace Japan, which also received 14 points from veteran shooter Takehiko Orimo, who shot 4 of 7 from threes. Ryota Sakurai had 10 points while Kosuke Takeuchi pulled down 14 rebounds to go with 6 points.
Japan will meet South Korea in the 5th-6th classification game.