Yang Hansen Leads China to Thrilling 89-87 Win Against Lebanon
Yang Hansen buried a buzzer-beating bank shot to drag China past Lebanon 89-87 on Monday night, on an evening when a teenager in the front row briefly threatened to steal the headlines.
The 21-year-old rose to the moment at the Xishi Basketball Centre in Zhuji, Zhejiang province, driving in the winner as time expired to lift China to 5-3 in the second stage of the Fiba Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers and keep them third in the group. The arena erupted. China exhaled.
They had almost thrown it all away.
Up six with just 40 seconds to play, China lost their grip through a rash of defensive breakdowns and one costly foul on a three-point attempt. Lebanon kept coming, chipping away, sensing panic. With 4.1 seconds left, they completed the comeback to level it at 87-87, silencing the home crowd and turning a comfortable finish into a knife-edge.
Yang had the last word.
China drew up the final play, the ball found their young star, and he banked in the decisive shot on the horn. No time left. No second chances for Lebanon.
The wild ending capped a fourth quarter that had already veered into the surreal.
After Yang was fouled and crashed to the floor earlier in the period, the ball skidded towards the sideline. A teenager in a courtside VIP seat scooped it up, then suddenly hurled it back towards the court. The ball struck China captain Zhao Jiwei before bouncing towards Yang, who was still down on the hardwood.
Security reacted instantly. Staff surged to the front row, tackled the young spectator and physically dragged him out of the arena. He was later identified as the 16-year-old son of a local sponsor, an embarrassing twist for the hosts on a high-stakes qualifying night.
Prominent basketball commentator Su Qun said the teenager lashed out in anger over what he saw as a string of unwhistled physical fouls by Lebanon’s naturalised centre, American-born DJ Funderburk. The throw, Su suggested, was meant for a different target but instead clattered into Zhao.
The incident did not derail China, but it underlined the edge inside the building and the frustration over the bruising battle in the paint. By the time Yang’s winner kissed the glass and dropped through, the chaos in the stands had been replaced by something else entirely: the roar of a team that had nearly let a vital win slip, then snatched it back at the death.
