Jet Chang scored a game-high 35 points in Taiwan's 94-78 victory over Qatar Saturday in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Men and helped Taiwan advance to the 12-team second round.
Taiwan made the second round as second place of the Group B with a 2-1 record, behind the undefeated Iran (3-0).
Qatar, which was plagued by naturalization issues with FIBA Asia and saw six of its players suspended, used five players for the entire game. In protest of the shocking development, Qatar basically gave up its previous two games by fouling out players before deciding to play today.
Chang made 10-of-18 shots, including 6-of-10 from three. He was not proud of his 35 points though, telling the media after the game that the game was not competitive.
"We were a little bit hesitant in the beginning because we didn't know how Qatar would play this game, " said Lee Hsueh-lin, who had 15 points and seven assists.
Tseng Wen-ting, who seemed to be not in his best condition in the preliminary round, had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Head coach Chou Jun-san said it was not an easy game for Taiwan NT, because Qatar had been stripped of several players and could not play the game with its full squad.
Chou was not happy with Taiwan NT's rebounding effort in the first three games, saying that it would be an important factor in the next round.
Omar Salem led Qatar with 30 points and 12 rebounds. Erfan Ali Saeed had 19 and 13 while Abdulrahman Saad chipped in 18 and 10.
Preliminary round standing: (top three teams advance)
Group A
Korea 3-0
Lebanon 2-1
Malaysia 1-2
India 0-3
Group B
Iran 3-0
Taiwan 2-1
Uzbekistan 1-2
Qatar 0-3
Group C
Japan 3-0
Jordan 2-1
Syria 1-2
Indonesia 0-3
Group D
China 3-0
Philippines 2-1
UAE 1-2
Bahrain 0-3
Second round brackets:
Group E
Korea
Taiwan
Uzbekistan
Lebanon
Malaysia
Iran
Group F
Japan
Philippines
Jordan
Syria
UAE
China
(Photos: FIBA Asia)