CHINA is back in the FIBA Asia Cup semifinals for the first time in ten years after eliminating South Korea in the quarterfinals of the tournament, 79-71, on Thursday at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,
Once the most feared side in Asia, Team Dragon missed out on the semifinals in the previous two editions, finishing 5th in 2017 before ending in 8th in 2022 -- their worst finish since 2007.
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Now China is back in a familiar territory, as they now enter the semifinals for the 20th time in the 24 Asia Cup competitions they've been apart of.
China rode on the hot second half of Jinqiu Hu as he powered the squad's breakaway early in the third, with China erecting an 18 point lead in that period.
He then finished the job in the payoff period, scoring six consecutive points for China to respond to a mini-rally from Korea who cut the lead to six multiple times.
Thanks to Hu, that was the closest they got.
Hu finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Junjie Wang added 21 points and eight boards for the resurgent Chinese side who hasn't tasted defeat in the tournament despite missing some big names in this team.
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Hyunjung Lee led the way for Korea with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists but the three-ball, a Korean weapon of choice, seemingly deserted them as they only hit 3-of-24 from downtown.
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