ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship): Last edition’s bronze medalists Chinese Taipei overcame a nervous first half and defeated  Bahrain 94-61 on Sunday to complete their Group C engagements winning all the three games.

Taipei will thus carry forward all the available points when they take their place in Second Round, while Bahrain await the result of the day’s final game between Mongolia and Indonesia to know their fate. A win for Indonesia will take Bahrain to Second Round, but should the hosts pull off a win goal differential will come into play.

Bahrain aware of the opportunity to avoid such anxieties – and clinch the qualifying spot outright – put their best foot forward as the game tipped off.

Ali Hassan Shakralla and Mahamed Naser took the onus of holding Bahrain’s fort on themselves. If anything kept Taipei ahead on the scoreboard it was their impressive consistency in free-throws.

“The boys were quite anxious though I can’t understand the reason,” said Taipei coach Yen Hsin-shu.

“We calmed them down during the break and asked them to just concentrate on the basics. That’s why we looked compact in the second half,” he added.

Chin Ming-Ching led Taipei’s all-round third quarter assault on either end of the floor as the East Asian team gained control of the proceedings albeit gradually before tightening the noose in the fourth period.

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