GUAM’S bid to make the FIBA Asia Cup tournament proper gained ground on Sunday despite suffering an 86-78 loss to China at home at the end of the three-window qualifiers on Sunday.
The national team that features San Miguel Beer guard Jericho Cruz, edged Mongolia for the No. 3 berth in Group C and earned a spot in the Final Qualifying Tournament to be held prior to the main event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from August 5-17.
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Guam ended up with a similar 1-5 record as Mongolia, which also lost its final game in the window against Japan, 89-79.
But the Guamanians ended up as the third-seeded team as China needed to beat them by 24 points or more for the Blue Wolves to advance.
Cruz finished with only two points on 1-of-3 shooting in 33 minutes of play, but led Guam in assists with 10 out of the team’s total of 19.
The 34-year-old guard out of Adamson was also whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul against Jinqui Hu at the 6:51 mark of the third quarter and China leading, 48-39.
Mongolia actually had a chance to take the No. 3 spot outright after leading Japan, 79-78, with four minutes left in its home game at the UG Arena in Ulaanbataar.
Ren Kanechika however, brought the Akatsuki back to life, hitting back-to-back treys to instigate an 11-0 blast going home and secure the thrilling, come-from-behind victory.
China and Japan both finished with 5-1 records in their group, but Team Dragon emerged as the No. 1 team in the group behind a huge point difference against the Akatsuki, who they’ve beaten black and blue just over the weekend in Shenzhen, 100-58.
Guam’s victory completed the cast in the Eastern Regional Final Qualifying Tournament among third-placed teams, joining Thailand (Group A) and Chinese Taipei (Group B).
Still to be determined are the last two teams in the Western Regional Final Qualifying Tournament, which remains a toss-up among India and Kazakhstan in Group E and Bahrain, Syria, and United Arab Emirates in Group F.
Iraq is the only team which made it so far in the Western Region.
The top two teams from the Final Qualifying Tournament will join the 12 qualifiers in the tournament proper.
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