FIBA Asia Champions Cup: Petrochimi Beat Dacin to Advance to Semis
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Petrochimi became the first team to make it to the Semi-Final of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2017 after the Iranian team defeated Taipei Dacin Tigers 97-80 on Thursday.
The frontline duo of Arsalan Kazemi and Meisam Mirzaei were unstoppable in this encounter. They had a giant task to slow down Dacin's hulking center Sim Bhullar, but both Kazemi and Mirzaei were up to the challenge.
Kazemi had an all-around like of 14 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals, while Mirzaei impressed with 11 points and 11 boards. Willie Warren's 31-point explosion also helped push Petrochimi into the next round.
It was the worst time for Bhullar to have his least offensively potent game. The 2.23m slotman was allowed to have just 2 field goal attempts, finishing with 6 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Guards Wang Tzu-Kang and Huang Jhen led the way for the Taipei quintet with a combined 25 points.
Petrochimi will next faces the winner between Al Riyadi and Mono Vampire, while the loser of that matchup play Dacin in the classification round.
The 2017 FIBA Asia Champions Cup is the 26th staging of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, the international basketball club tournament of FIBA Asia.
The tournament takes place in Chenzhou, China from 22 September to 30 September 2017.
This is second straight year that China hosts the tournament.
