JAPAN claimed the final ticket to the second round of the 2019 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers with an emphatic 108-68 rout of Chinese Taipei at Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium on Monday.
Naturalized player Nick Fazekas continued to dominate for the Akatsuki Five, topping his side with 32 points on an ultra-efficient 13-of-18 shooting from the field, to go with 11 rebounds.
Makoto Hiejima also uncorked 17 points, six assists, and three boards, while Rui Hachimura and Yudai Baba both wound up with 13 apiece.
With the win, Japan (2-4) advances to the second round of the Asian qualifiers together with Group B leaders Australia and Philippines, which figured in an ugly bench-clearing brawl at Philippine Arena.
Peng Chun Yen topped Chinese Taipei with 19 points and three rebounds as the Taiwanese bow out of the qualifiers with their 1-5 record.
The scores:
JAPAN 108 — Fazekas 32, Hiejima 17, Baba 13, Hachimura 13, Togashi 12, Tanaka 8, Shinoyama 6, Takeuchi 5, Ota 2, Furukawa 0, Tsuji 0, Uto 0.
CHINESE TAIPEI 68 — Peng 19, Lu 12, Davis 10, Liu 8, Hu 7, Yang 6, Chen YC 4, Chen KC 2, Chou PC 0, Chou YH 0, Creighton 0, Tseng 0.
Quarters: 27-15, 47-28, 77-57, 108-68.
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