Chung Kwang-suk's hope of leading Taiwan NT back to the Asian Championship semifinals was crushed after a 95-64 blowout loss to Lebanon Wednesday, the second straight loss for Taiwan NT in the quarterfinal round.
The Lebanese dominated the game throughout. It enjoyed a comfortable 39-26 halftime lead and kept pushing the lead in the second half. Fadi El Khatib scored a game-high 28 points on 10 of 17 shooting and made all seven of his free-throws. Joseph Vogel and Brian Feghali each had 14 points while Jean Abdel-Nour had 13.
Taiwan, which played its worst game at the worst time, was led by Chen Hsin-an's 21 points. Lin Chih-jay followed with 15 points. Wu Dai-hao had 9.
By dropping two games in a row, Taiwan was out of the semifinals. But it's hard to blame head coach Chung, a Korean. Chung did not have much time to train the team, and he lost at least four injured players that all could have made the national team roster -- Chen Chih-chun, Ho Sho-jen, Su Yi-chieh and Tien Lei.
Keep in mind, that did not include Tsun Wen-din, who didn't play until the quarterfinal round but was a non-factor in the tournament.
Quarterfinal round results:
Jordan 82-73 Kazakhstan
Lebanon 95-64 Taiwan
Iran 95-87 Qatar
Korea 93-83 Japan
Consolation round results:
Philippines 104-69 India
China 102-47 Indonesia
Syria 109-69 Kuwait
Hong Kong 87-64 UAE
(photo: fiba.com)