Qatar’s Jarvis Hayes (left) tries to score a basket against South Korea during their Asian Basketball Championships quarter-final yesterday. PICTURE: Othman Iraqi

Agencies/Manila

Qatar lost to South Korea in what was one of the most anticipated matches of the quarter-final stage in the Asian Basketball Championship in Manila yesterday.

South Korea reached the semi-final stage with a 79-52 win over Qatar. In the last four, South Korea will meet hosts Philippines for a shot at the title.

South Korea started the game with a 24-14 surge. While Qatar stepped up a bit in the second quarter with another 14-point haul, South Korea had extended the lead to 40:28 at halftime.

With 21-14 and 18-10 rallies in the last two quarters, South Korea rounded off a memorable win.

Cho Sung-Min stepped up with 16 points for the winners and Sandrin Eric netted 12. Yoon Ho-Young posted 10, while Kim Mingoo added 9.

For Qatar, Erfan Ali Saeed and Jarvis Hayes replied with 10 points each and Daoud Mousa notched 9.

Philippines scored a huge 88-58 win over Kazakhstan to advance to the semi-finals.

Philippines erupted with a 32-15 surge and never looked behind thereafter. Kazakhstan replied with 25-19 rally in the second period but could not come closer. The hosts limited the opponents to just 9 points in the third and then 15 in the last period. Philippines meanwhile notched 16 points in the third period and then added 21 in the last stanza.

Gary David top-scored for the winners with 22 points and Jayson Castro nailed 13. Dmitriy Klimov finished the game with 14 points in defeat.

Earlier in the day, Taiwan sprang up the biggest surprise of the championship yesterday when they shocked the defending champions China 96-78 in the quarterfinals.

With 26 points and 10 rebounds, Davis Quincy led the Taiwanese charge, while Yi Jianlian top-scored for China with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

China was looking nowhere near losing when they took an eight-point lead over their opponents after the first quarter with a 28-point haul.

At halftime, the defending champions had increased the lead to 10 points with the scoreline reading 50:40.

In the second half, however, Taiwan turned things around with a 31-point burst, which pushed the eventual winners to a nine-point lead at the final break.

China struggled to pick updefensive rhythm allowing Taiwan to score freely.

Taiwan poured in 25 points in the fourth frame and shocked China for a place in the semi-final. Tsai Wen-Cheng posted 21 points, while Lin Chih-Chieh pitched in with 17 points for the winners.

Taiwan will now face Iran in the semifinals. Iran brushed aside the Jordanian challenge with a commanding 94-50 win.

Hamed Haddadi scored 20 points and 8 rebounds to lead Iran into thelast four.

The game opened with a blistering form from Iran. They unloaded 31 points in the first ten minutes to secure a 20-point lead.

Iran did not slow down in the second quarter. They marched to a 53:28 halftime advantage.

Iran stretched the gap in the third term. They ensured a massive 74:36 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Iran did not look back in the fourth frame cruising to a well-deserved win at the end.

Jimmy Baxter responded with 13 points for Jordan.