ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) – China turned things around after the break and went on to leave Korea disappointed, 97-81, to head straight to the FIBA U16 Asia Cup 2025 Quarter-Finals, Tuesday at the MBank Arena.
The three-time champions found themselves down by one at the half and even stared at a 47-44 deficit early in the third, but Zhang Ziyi kick-started the crucial rally that change the game’s complexion in their favor.
He scored underneath and the others came in to help, with Zhang Chunzhi and Zhang Yizhaojie clicking from deep as the troika joined hands for a 16-2 run toward a 60-49 lead past the six-minute mark of the quarter.
Lyu Feiyan and Tu Hanzhi then contributed for their breakaway for good, giving themselves a 71-57 lead entering the final 10 minutes as Team Dragon outperformed their counterparts, 27-12, toward the 14-point cushion.
The match would never be in doubt since, and the East Asian powerhouse would go on to annex the no. 1 spot in Group A with a pristine 3-0 win-loss record as their sub-zone rivals settled for second at 3-1.
Chunzhi top-scored for China with 25 points and 9 rebounds for his best showing to date, with Ziyi finishing with a monster 20-20 outing as he came through with 21 points and 20 rebounds plus 4 of their 8 blocks.
Yizhaojie tallied his own double-double showing with 18 points and 11 assists, while Lyu added 14 in the win that saw the wards of Coach Wang Jianjun shoot 54.69-percent from the floor and collect 32 assists.
Now they wait for their Quarter-Final opponents, which will be the winner between Group A’s second best team in Bahrain and the team finishing third in Group B in the Qualification to Quarter-Finals on Thursday.
*This article will be updated.