Beijing, Feb 25 (UNI) Japan defeated China 76-73 at home in the second round of the FIBA Asia
Cup 2025 Qualifiers in Group C on Sunday, taking its first victory against China in major international competitions since 1936.

Yudai Baba scored a game-high 24 points merely by 10 attempts in Japan's narrow victory. Joshua Hawkinson clinched a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds, and backcourt duo Yuki Kawamura and Yuki Togashi combined for 20 points.

Hu Jinqiu led China with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Hu Mingxuan added 20 points, and Abudushalamu Abudurexiti came off the bench to take seven points and 10 rebounds.

Japanese fans had a reason to immerse themselves in joy, not only for their side's sweep in Window 1, but also for breaking an 88-year winless record against China. Japan's last victory over China can trace back to 1936.

"That was a great win for us," said Japan's head coach Tom Hovasse. "I told the team after the game this type of win against a really quality team really raises everybody's confidence a little bit. It's a step along the process that we're going through right now which is Paris and it's a big step towards our goal."

"It was our first win against China after 88 years and as coach said, it was a great win today. One of the positives of this game was that we were able to play physically throughout the whole game, for
40 minutes," Yudai Baba noted.

Coach Aleksandar Djordjevic's team had a positive 14-3 opening but shortly was chased down by Japan after the home team seized a couple of chances facing the visitors with absolute height advantages.

The game with a 34.4 percent 3-pointer percentage wasn't Japan's best show, but the entire team stuck firmly to long shots as over half of their shooting attempts were beyond the arc. Japan's offensive strategy along with its fierce defense worked well on China, who shot for only 8-out-of-29 3-pointers and failed to find a good rhythm to attack the rim.
China's starting center Hu Jinqiu maintained power in the paint, only blew two shots and grabbed six offensive rebounds. While 18-year-old Yang Hansen hit the rookie wall following a shining senior national team debut versus Mongolia, missing all four shots.

When China struggled to find effective scoring methods, Hu Mingxuan stepped up, repeatedly breaking through to cause damage. However, his one-out-of-seven 3-pointers was far from enough
to change Team Dragon's fate.

China could achieve a comeback after Soichiro Inoue missed all three free throws in the last moment, a turnover near halfcourt was punished by Hawkinson's easy dunk. Cheng Shuaipeng gave China another chance by nailing down a 3-pointer with his body unbalanced 20 seconds left on the clock, but Djordjevic's side failed to foul quickly and net the last shot to eye time running out.
Djordjevic explained his last shot deployment at the post-game press conference, stating that he was expecting players to quickly pass the ball to find an open, but the players misunderstood.

"They're a team who bases their game on shooting three-pointers out of the creations of their quick guards and I think tonight, Yudai Baba was exceptional. We couldn't find the cure to stop him. And their big man Hawkinson, who in tough moments made some good decisions and for us, it was crucial ... in the end, we're a very young team," Djordjevic commented.

The Serbian was also asked whether this was his last game with China's national team, and he refused to answer, commenting the question was "disrespectful."
UNI/XINHUA BM