China ended their 27th Asian Men's Basketball Championship campaign with a 96-85 victory over Qatar in ­Manila on ­Sunday, finishing fifth.

The only chance for the former Asian champions to play in next year's Basketball World Cup in Spain is a wild card awarded by FIBA.

"We wanted to play the final so it's not good for us to play this match," said Panagiotis Giannakis, head coach of China. "But I think we learnt many things from this tournament. We have the opportunity to become stronger in the future."

A 13-0 run in the beginning of the second half helped China to enlarge their lead, which was only five points by halftime. The 15-time Asian champions never let the match slip away from their hands from then on.

It was a tight game at the start of the first, with Wang Zhizhi building a three-point lead off a Yi Jianlian assist with six minutes and 20 seconds remaining.

But Mohammed Saleem Abdullah and Mansour Elhadary then went on a 7-0 run for Qatar, building one-point lead after the first quarter.

Wang Zhizhi then anchored a 15-4 run to start the second period. Qatar ­responded with a 15-5 run to tie the game at 40-all.

Wang Shipeng and Zhu Fangyu had the last say in the second, giving China a 45-40 lead at the half.

Guo Ailun led China with 21 points and five assists. Veteran Wang Zhizhi finished his last Asian Championship game with a 13-point and 11-rebound double-double. Yi took 12 while Wang Shipeng and Zhu combined for 24.

China suffered a shocking loss to Chinese Taipei in Friday's quarterfinals, leading them to their second worst ­result in Asian Championships.

In the final of the Championship on Sunday, Iran routed the Philippines 85-71 to bag gold.

It was Iran's third gold at the Asian Championship.

The Philippines are five-time champions, though their last victory came back in 1985.

Xinhua - Global Times