Taiwan suffered its second consecutive loss at the Asian qualifiers for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in a close game in Okinawa on Saturday against the hosts Japan.
The Japanese national team, ranked seventh in Asia, narrowly defeated the young Taiwanese team 76-71, after gaining control of the final moments of their Group B game, which was tied 69-69 with just 2 minutes left until the final buzzer.
From there, Japan took the lead on a left-handed driving layup by Yudai Nishida before team veteran Takatoshi Furukawa stole the ball from Taiwan in the possession that followed.
With less than a minute and a half left in the game, Japan never looked back to pocket their first win in the first-round round-robin games, which are being held from November 2021 to June 2022.
After the game, Taiwan’s head coach Charles Parker said despite the loss, he was still proud of his team.
“It was a great game. I think that Japan did very well under the circumstances of being new together, but I felt that we had a tremendous effort to win the game. I’m so very proud of our team. Even in a loss, there’s a lot of positives that our young team gained from this experience,” Parker said.
Newly naturalized American-born Taiwanese William Artino continued to put on a strong performance at the qualifiers, by posting 15 points, 18 rebounds, five assists, and one steal, after also recording a double-double in a matchup against Australia just a day earlier.
In addition to Artino’s good showing, center Chou Kuei-yu (???) also drained 21 points for Taiwan.
Taiwan, competing under the name “Chinese Taipei” as is customary in international sporting competitions, also performed better at the boards, outrebounding Japan 49-38.
Japan’s Nishida had an explosive game, ending up with 27 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two blocks, shooting 9-13 from the field.
As one of the co-hosts for World Cup 2023, Japan is already qualified regardless of how it does in these qualifiers, but Taiwan’s consecutive losses may have more impact on the standings. Taiwan, currently ranked 10th in Asia, will next face Australia on Monday.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel