Basketball: Japan blows past Taiwan in 1st warm-up friendly

FIBA Basketball World Cup co-host Japan blew past Taiwan 108-86 in the first of two warm-up friendlies Saturday. Yudai Baba and Shuta Hara led Japan with 18 points each, with Hara going 6-for-7 from beyond the arc, where the hosts badly outpaced the visitors at Shizuoka Prefecture's Hamamatsu Arena, making more than twice as many three-point attempts, 47-23, while shooting 44.7 percent from that range. "I'd hoped to hold them to a score of 70-something, but (Chinese) Taipei played at a high pace, that made it exciting for the fans," Japan coach Tom Hovasse said. "It was great that we got six t...