Asian champion China beat South Korea68-52 here on Tuesday to reach the final of the Doha Asian Games men's basketball tournament.

Bang Sung-yoon, who scored 42 points and hit 12 three-pointers in South Korea's 87-81 overtime win over Qatar in the last game, started for the defending champion, but he left the court less than four minutes into the game with a minor injury.

South Korea started well against the Chinese, who had won five games in a row in the group stage, battling for a 10-7 lead and held it to 13-12 before China ran off seven straight points for a 19-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Ha Seung-jin, a former NBA player, played solid inside game to help South Korea stay in the game early in the second quarter, butChina concluded the first half with a 13-4 run for a big cushion at 41-25.

Trailing 49-37 into the fourth quarter, South Korea cut it to 49-42 through a 5-0 run, only to see Wang Zhizhi score ten consecutive points to make it 59-42 with six minutes remaining.

China will play Jordan in Wednesday's semi-finals.

Editor: Donald