YUDAI Nishida waxed hot when it mattered the most as he pulled Japan back from the grave and steered it to a 76-71 comeback win over Chinese Taipei in the 2023 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers Saturday at Okinawa Arena.
The SeaHorses Mikawa guard fired 13 of his game-high 27 points for the Akatsuki Five, including a 2-of-4 shooting from deep and a 7-of-7 clip from the charity stripe as the hosts recovered from an eight-point deficit, 43-35 in the third quarter.
Nishida was a do-it-all wonder for Japan as he also collected three rebounds, three assists, and two blocks while also icing the game with a pair of freebies with two seconds left on the clock.
Chinese Taipei still had a chance to force overtime after Luke Evans only mustered a split from the free throw line in the final 17 ticks and kept the window open at 74-71, but Lin Bing-sheng shot his three in the last 6.4 seconds wide left.
Japan gets a close win over Chinese Taipei.
Matthew Aquino plays his first game with the Japanese national team.
Evans had a double-double of 17 points and 12 boards, Takuma Sato got nine points, four rebounds, and two assists, and Yuki Togashi had eight points, five rebounds, and four dimes in the Japan win.
Matthew Aquino logged three minutes and 53 seconds of play and had two points and one rebound in his Akatsuki Five debut.
Japan earned its first win in Group B to sit at 1-2, while keeping Chinese Taipei winless after four games.
The home team will return to action on Sunday against Australia (1-0), which inflicted the Taiwanese a 98-61 thrashing on Friday.
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